BusinessWeek's Heather Green reported that California-based Serena Software has instituted Facebook Fridays for their “staff of 900 (average age, 41) to spend an hour each week on the popular social networking site—updating their profiles, collaborating with colleagues and clients, and recruiting for Serena.”
The company also plans to use Facebook as a corporate intranet to “exchange documents, update corporate information, and share marketing videos.”
While some of the comments to this story have been less than supportive (okay, many think it’s stupid), I applaud the intention.
I think it’s a great idea to set aside specific time to focus on various aspects of your networking, whether online or in person. For example, networking groups meet on a regular basis, giving them a dedicated period of time each week, month or quarter to focus on relationships inside the group. Out of sight, out of mind.
You can institute the same discipline with your own online networking and pick a specific day and time to update your profiles, invite new connections, and see who you can help.
For example, I’ve really let my Ryze profile get out of date, and I still haven’t filled out every box on my Facebook page. However, I did spend a half hour a few weeks ago inviting a bunch of former coworkers into my LinkedIn network, and now have been able to reconnect with folks I had lost touch with.
A half hour a week or even an hour a month isn’t too much time to spend to make sure you’re using these tools to their best advantage.
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