Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer: 
Shubert tackles a discussion I know I have had with my colleagues many times, namely, the value of social networking at work. Shubert writes (288): "It is the delivery of technology and capability to business and society that lies at the heart of the dilemma for CIOs and CTOs today; Businesses want and need access to networks (electronic communities) to reach... their current and potential customers. Businesses are concerned that access to these same networks by their employees could pose a security or competitive risk... ." The ability to spill one's guts then used to be isolated to the bar; now you can do so at every opportunity. It is true that some employees are addicted to staying in touch, and Facebook is the rage. I would hazard the guess that these same slackers are IM'ing their friends or on the phone yacking it up with momma. I don't think Facebook or for that matter Smart phones have made people more secure in their social networks. There is simply a pathology that manifests itself when the conditions are ripe. Excuse me. I see some practical marketing uses for product simulation, touring the plant, getting to know folks; Second Life has shown itself to be useful in a variety of settings, even organizational development where you want everyone to get together anonymously. But the part of the chapter that intrigues me the most is the discussion on democratization and socialization of information. Has the boundary between expert and amateur blurred? My answer to this would be yes, if all the experts agree but the amateurs do not. For many of the problems facing the corporation, crowdsourcing probably works as well as formal expertise. Given sufficient monkeys, sufficient time, Shakespeare. Any of you who have had to endure the vendor pitch knows that truth is relative to the need for profit. So we come to the a practical discussion of the role of the CIO in moderating access to social media, framing what stands as truth in the information world of the corporation, and the extent to which the explosion of personal authority on the Internet has diminished our ability to sort out truth from hyperbole.

Use the format of the attached reference sources:

Bednar, J. (May 21, 2011). Status Update In the Realm of Social Media, Workers Have More Rights Than Employers Might Think. www.BusinessWest.com: pp. 23-28.

Bednar, J. (December 19, 2011). Tool or Trouble? Social Media Poses Opportunities and Traps for Employers. www.BusinessWest.com, 33-36.

Farley, A. (October 2011). Building a Social Media Policy. ABA Bank Marketing, 18-22.

Nesbit, T (2011). Social Media: In the Work Place and Patterns of Usage. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 5 (9), 61-80.

Nelson, J.2011. Distracted. Canadian Business, 84(14), 28.

Schubert, K. (2011.) Evolution of Networks into Networking. In Stenzel, J. (Ed.) CIO Best Practices: Enabling Strategic Value with Information Technology (pp. 285-325).Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.