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Shannon Boudjema needed evidence - fast - to convince a skeptical manager and client of her marketing plan for a new product pitched to younger buyers.

Had she gone traditional routes, "I would have needed to drop all my other work, spend days on the phone and have meetings or buy research," says the business manager for marketing communications company Maritz Canada Inc. in Mississauga, Ont.

Instead, she had a brainstorm.

Before leaving work one evening last month, she posted a message on Twitter, asking followers to steer her toward research on the preferences of young consumers.

Arriving at work the next morning, she found a flood of tweets from dozens of contacts. "I got a ton of links to research that substantiated what I was proposing, so that I felt comfortable making my recommendation," she says.

Results like that have made her employer sit up and take notice - so much so that Maritz is urging all 500 employees to find ways to use social networking sites to business advantage.

It has created such a buzz that the company has been ordering in pizza and inviting 50 employees at a time to lunchtime training sessions on how to use sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook in their jobs, says Paul Marchildon, Maritz's vice-president of marketing communications.

"Social media are proving to be a great way to reach clients and build business networks," he says. "Even if employees haven't used these sites, they badly want to learn how to use them. And even regular users have things they want to know more about."

That represents a radical shift in thinking. Had Maritz employees logged on to such sites just a year ago, they would have received a stern warning message blocking access in the office as "inappropriate."

Now, Maritz and a growing number of other companies are not only opening access but actively encouraging employees to jump on the social networking bandwagon from their office desks.

Those at the forefront see a wide range of benefits for both businesses and individuals. For employers, they are new tools to promote their brands, build business, spot trends, find talent and collaborate with industry experts, says Judy Sweeney, vice-president of HR consulting company Taleo Research in Toronto. They are also a way to reach a younger generation of early social media adopters.

Employees can use the sites not only to help do their work better - expanding their network, gaining instant feedback, finding new information -but boost their value: Becoming known as an online trend setter is destined to raise your star with management, which can lead to new opportunities, even job security in unstable times, career pros say.

Just last summer, 65 per cent of U.S. and Canadian businesses said they blocked employee access to instant messaging and social media sites, citing worries about security and wasted time, according to a survey done by the American Management Association.

Contrast that with a new study by San Diego-based Internet security company Websense. It found 86 per cent of 1,300 information technology managers worldwide reported they are under pressure from management to give employees more access to social media. Of the 100 Canadian managers in the survey, just 39 per cent said their companies currently allow access. But 36 per cent said they are being urged by marketing managers to cut back restrictions on employee access, and 29 per cent said the prodding is also coming from sales managers. Nearly a third - 30 per cent - said pressure is coming directly from senior management.

Far from wasting time, social media can make workers more efficient, says Mark Relph, vice-president of the developer platform and product evangelism group for Microsoft Canada Co. He logs in to Twitter with his morning coffee at home and, throughout the day, has it running in a corner of his work computer and on his mobile messaging device. He uses Twitter to get instant feedback on what his software designer customers would like to discuss in workshops he runs across the country.

His obsession has helped raise his pay and visibility with management, he says.

Mr. Relph gets a bonus based on customer satisfaction ratings; in the two years he and others in his department have used Twitter, those ratings have risen by 8 per cent.

"I attribute that in large part to the constant feedback that gives us a better understanding of what customers want."

Meanwhile, he is receiving glowing performance reviews, which have led to more important assignments and, he hopes, an eventual promotion.

"I think that knowing how to leverage social media tools like Twitter is the kind of thing employers will look for even more in the future," he says.

Scott Meleskie tweeted his way into a new job. Last fall, a Twitter mate tipped him off to the fact that online communications consultancy Nurun Inc., a division of Quebecor Media Inc. in Montreal, was in the market for a creative Internet specialist. Mr. Meleskie, then an account manager at advertising agency Cossette Media, was intrigued.

So he turned to Facebook to dig up a Nurun employee who could give him the goods on the company. Then he fired off a message to a Twitter job board, where the position had been posted, as well as e-mailing a résumé to the company's human resources department.

He didn't hear anything for two weeks - but during that time, Nurun's hiring managers were actually watching Mr. Meleskie's postings on Facebook, LinkedIn and his two personal blogs on computer industry trends. "They obviously liked what they saw," he says.

He got called in for a formal job interview and, on the spot, was offered the position of account manager with responsibility for social media.

Mr. Meleskie's postings were the best indicator of his abilities, says Simon Lauzier, the recruitment strategist for Nurun who hired Mr. Meleskie. "Social media gives me more information about a person's abilities than a résumé or a job interview. You can find candidates that you would not otherwise identify and follow how well they perform in action."

Ms. Boujdema believes her social media savvy has also been a career booster, making other employees and her boss take notice of her. She recommends everyone give the features a try. "If used creatively, they can give you a higher profile and help you do your work more effectively," she says.

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GRAPPLING WITH FREEDOM

SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDELINES

While many employers are becoming fans, they are still grappling with how much freedom to allow employees using social media, says Judy Sweeney, head of research at talent management software company, based in Dublin, Calif. Ms. Sweeney is based in Boston..

"There is still a lot of fear in human resources departments about security, just as there was when companies started using e-mail," she says.

To protect themselves, companies are setting up usage policies, similar to the rules they have already set up about appropriate use of e-mail.

Markham, Ont.-based IBM Canada Ltd., for instance, has "social computing guidelines" that tell employees to make clear that what they post is their personal opinion and does not necessarily represent company position or strategy. They also tell employees not to reveal confidential information, to steer clear of controversial topics or picking fights, and to "add value" in all online postings. "You're building your social reputation, so you don't want to be a frivolous or an uninteresting person," the policy says.

Wallace Immen

*****

Career advantage

How to use social networking skills to career advantage? Here are ideas from David Perry, a partner in Ottawa-based executive search firm Perry Martel International Inc., and Shannon Boudjema of marketing communications company Maritz Canada:

Become the go-to person

Be the one managers and colleagues turn to for advice, tips, staying at the forefront and solving problems.

Lead the learning

Volunteer to run a lunch and learn or coffee break session to bring other employees up to speed.

Blow your own horn

Keep the boss and colleagues in the loop about what you're doing in social media and how it helps you work better

Post regularly

You'll gain more followers if you regularly have something new to say.

Specialize

The more you become an expert in a particular area, the more people will follow you.

Be a participant

Don't just join online discussion groups to watch; getting involved in the conversation will build relationships.

Go for quality

Rather than just adding contacts for the sake of quantity, cultivate a circle of trusted colleagues and thought leaders who have useful input to contribute.

Add to the discussion

Post original comments and ideas; no one will follow someone who keeps saying "I agree."

Share what you know

Post links to articles, blogs, facts and polls that you discover.

Pass along

Expand your network by forwarding or "retweet" messages you receive to others in your network. They in turn will pass them to their contacts.

Acknowledge responses

Nothing builds a following like appreciation.

Mind your employer

Be wary about what you say; remember you represent your company.

Don't be selfish

Offer information and recommendations without being asked.

Set limits

Schedule a specific time each day for working on the sites.

Wallace Immen



CORRECTION

The print version of this story said that Judy Sweeney is vice-president of HR consulting company Taleo Research in Toronto. This online version of the story has been corrected.

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