While social media exploded into the consumer space several years ago, it is relatively new to the business world. Enterprises have been reluctant to come around on the notion but their resistance is waning. One of the problems is a difficulty in measuring the impact social media has on the enterprise in its various capacities. It is tough to come up with dollars and cents when your metrics are Facebook “Likes” and Twitter followers. However, thinking about it in those terms can be a rather narrow-minded approach. Instead, think in terms of communications, engagement, and innovation. This article from Information Week asks how you can measure the ROI for these activities. That is an excellent point because if anything, social media gives everyone a voice and promotes collaboration. Now you start to get ideas, problems get solved faster, and innovation moves to the forefront. There are over 800 million people using Facebook in the world today. Those users are in fact your customers, employees, shareholders, and partners. They are already there using the service so it makes little sense to resist the move towards a social enterprise any longer. If the number of people using these social channels continues to grow exponentially like they’re doing right now companies may not have an option.

Dr. Jonathan Reichental, CIO for the City of Palo Alto, California, recently led a Web Forum presentation on “Social Media in the Corporate Environment.” He touched on a lot of these points and highlighted the opportunities that are out there for businesses aiming to shift towards becoming a more social enterprise. To read a full report on this presentation by Dr. Reichental, CLICK HERE.