It’s hard to believe that there was a time when people openly questioned whether the Internet had a place in business. Seems silly now given how critical the Internet and information technology networks are to business success! Today, as social media explodes in popularity, some managers raise the same skepticism about the business viability of Twitter, Facebook, and other tools.

Where’s the payoff? How can social media activities be measured? How can companies protect their intellectual capital? These are all legitimate questions and the fact is that social media has become so common that businesses cannot afford to ignore it.  This calls for the active involvement of the people function of business, human resources, in addressing social media in business.

Silkroad Technology put together an interesting infographic that explains why human resources is an important stakeholder in a company’s social media activities. These include managing potential problem areas such as (1) employment law issues surrounding privacy and potential differential treatment and (2) protecting company secrets from competitors.  The infographic also shows that HR has a place in facilitating the potential benefits of social media.  These benefits include morale, skill building, employee recruitment and selection, and organizational communication.

Like many communication problems in organizations, management bears some blame when social media activities fail in business.  Instead of throwing out the baby with the bath water, however, by entirely shutting down social media access to employees, companies can take a different approach. They can leverage this powerful social force with the sensible involvement of all stakeholders in this effort–including human resources. Business leaders and managers need to sensibly implement social media activities with a balanced approach.

Infographic courtesy of Visual.ly.