Boost your productivity of working with social media...?

You may find that headline counter-intuitive. The common perception is that social media are only updates posting, images, and connect with friends and family. If you have "social media" in your job title, you might think there is no way it can be part of the working day. However, social tools in the Office are to be adopted. In a recent independent survey of Rwandan professionals and students of age 18 and older social media under the direction of MarketTools Inc., 35 percent of respondents selected as an effective method of communication with colleagues, customers and suppliers. Some other interesting data points from the survey: 25% of respondents use social media to communicate and build relationships with colleagues. This figure was agreed up to 37% of the age group 18 - 24. 19% of respondents that social networking has helped to meet people who have made offline in valuable business relationships online. 89 Percent said their use of social media for personal communication increased or remained the same during the last Jahres.Es is no surprise that people use social media in their personal communication, but here at Microsoft, we believe that social networking can deliver real business value for all types of organizations. We have this with the social connector Outlook and SharePoint enable invested. And we have in cooperation with companies such as LinkedIn and Facebook. How can companies benefit from social networking? When used with a purpose, social tools in the Office with cooperation can help. Companies such as Getronics/Kpn and Catapult Systems have used social Outlook Connector professional social interaction and exchange of knowledge between the staff in different offices to promote that. James Sinclair of On-location advice used to build the social Outlook Connector and LinkedIn better business relationships and stay productive. James shared some thoughts with us recently: "Outlook of social connector (OSC) and LinkedIn work for me because it is an easy way to keep me informed of the people in my network." "I use this tool to interact with potential customers, employees and partners." "Nothing replaces face-to-face meetings, but OSC is part of my natural process of doing business, because it just there made in Outlook." "Often I find a degree of separation from someone I would like to do with business, and I use an introduction of a common contact, I discover by the OSC and LinkedIn."Of course we should take as for any communications platform, with social networking privacy and security to heart. With the social Outlook Connector, administrators can control and configure what networks with connect staff. Also, the social Outlook Connector users can choose which to bring social networks in their Inbox. He respects the privacy settings that have chosen users on social networks. The information that you see above your contacts depends on how much they have decided to share with you on social sites. Therefore, we have seen great examples of user acceptance of the Outlook social connector and social networking at work. You can to know you more, such as the Outlook social connector in this article on Office.com. I believe that social tools are a part of the workplace. With the right planning and the right tools, they can actually increase productivity. I encourage you to check out the Outlook social connector and think about how you use it in your company. Download the social network provider for Outlook social connector. Drop me a note, if you want to share your own experience! -Paco Contreras HerreraGroup product manager, Microsoft Office

View the original article here