With Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media technologies virtually omnipresent lately, it's not surprising that many managers are wondering how to leverage these tools. Sales and marketing were the first to exploit these technologies, which present new ways of reaching customers. But the real trick is finding ways to improve productivity, collaboration, communication and learning within organizations using tools that increasingly look like mainstays rather than fads.
It turns out that not many companies have figured out this trick yet. According to The Rise of Social Media, a report that the American Society for Training & Development commissioned from i4cp, less than 20% of employees are using social networks, wikis, blogs, podcasts or shared media for work-related learning often or all the time. Fewer than 10% are using micro-blogs (Twitter, Yammer, etc.), virtual worlds or augmented realities to the same extent.
