No one doubts the influence of social media these days — think about 2 million retweets of the photo with Ellen DeGeneres and a number of Hollywood starts on Oscar night.
So small wonder that an increasing number of organizations are turning to social media solutions for external and internal messaging.
But a recent study by IDG (and sponsored by HootSuite) cited on ZDNet.com points out the tensions between IT departments, who have to look after security and social media applications, and lines of businesses who are responsible for strategy.
Ponder this: Sixty-two percent of respondents believe senior executives are “at least supportive of the integration of enterprise social media into business strategy,” although people in IT are “more than three times as likely to perceive business executives as indifferent or reluctant.”
That’s not good.
On the other hand, respondents believe IT is the primay advocate of a social media strategy.
As author Michael Krigsman notes, there seems to be a lack of understand between IT and business units, although they both want the business to be successful.
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This would seem to be another example of the turf wars that erupt in organizations: IT has its hands (figuratively) in almost every department, but department heads are each responsible for their own practices and strategies.
These divides can’t be allowed to expand. People have to work together. And technology can’t force that.