Forbes Magazine predicts 2013 will be the year for social business, with organisations integrating social technologies into the way they attract, engage and empower employees.
Being "social" is nothing new in the personal or professional realm. Humans are innately social creatures, depending on connections with others for learning and growth as well as overall happiness and wellbeing. However, increasingly in this digital age, many are turning to the internet and social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked In to fulfil these connections, an activity accounting for 22 per cent of people's time online.
The way we connect is changing. Savvy businesses have already jumped on board, introducing enterprise social networks and internal "Wikis" for information sharing. Astute organisations will embrace social software and find the best ways to use it in the workplace to drive engagement, collaboration and innovation.
Leanne Irwin, a consultant at IBM company Kenexa, says: "Results from the Kenexa Best Workplaces Survey 2012 show the key driver of engagement for employees is feeling a sense of belonging to the organisation.
"This can be very challenging for employees who work offsite and have limited opportunity to interact with colleagues. Social software platforms such as IBM Connections (which enables real-time communication and content management from mobile devices) support people's intrinsic need for belonging, enabling them to communicate and collaborate from geographically dispersed locations."
