4 Ways Social Media Will Impact Work

Want to learn more about the future of work? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation on July 11 will host Work Forward, a program which will take a look at the people, places, and innovations that are shaping the way you work and do business. Find out more here and register!

June 30th is National Social Media Day, and—surprise!—there’s even a hash tag for it, #NationalSocialMediaDay. Who would have thought ten years ago that social media would end up having such an impact on cultures and businesses all around the globe?

Currently it is estimated that there are over two billion social media users throughout the world and those numbers continue to rise. Social media has made keeping up with friends and family who live around the country, or the world, a breeze. It has even changed the way we do work. Today nine out of 10 companies within the United States have a social media presence. It has simply become essential to the way we do business and work.

While most of us can’t begin to imagine how else social media could evolve, it is going to. How then will social media impact work in the future? Here are four ways:

1. Communication. Social media will become one of the top ways to communicate for work, both internally and externally. Tools such as Slack, Google Hangouts, and WhatsApp are already beginning to take the workplace by storm. Facebook is even working on a new messaging trial called "Facebook at Work." We soon could be saying goodbye to emails and phone calls and hello to these new social media messaging tools.
    
2. Digital hiring. Paper resumes and applications are becoming a rare find in offices today. With sites like LinkedIn on the rise, the job search, application, and hiring process will continue to be simplified. No need to mail in your resume and cross your fingers that it makes it to someone’s desk—the application and interview could be done at a click of a button in the future.
    
3. All video, no text. Yes, text could be going away forever – at least on social media. It is predicted that within five years, the top social media platforms, will have transitioned to all video-based and no text. Platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter are already reaching social media peaks when it comes to video views. Companies are also seeing its impacts firsthand; 70% of businesses say that video has become the most successful way to market. The future downfall however is how expensive it can be to shoot professional videos. For businesses to stay competitive it will become essential for them to enter into the world of social media video advertising, live streams, and virtual reality.
    
4. New jobs. With any great innovation comes a need for new talent. As social media continues to evolve, it will become crucial for businesses to have their own social media teams. Almost 80% of organizations have already created their own in-house social media teams. There will also be a push for all employees to promote the company in order to widen the organization’s audience reach. This does mean however that employees’ should constantly be aware of their personal social media accounts. As social media popularity continues to grow, employers will increasingly monitor what their employees’ post, especially since it could be linked back to the company.

As hard as it may be to believe, change is on the horizon for social media. In order for companies to stay competitive they must keep up with the social media trends because it is not going away anytime soon; by 2018 it is predicted that there will be over 2.5 billion global social media users. The way we market and communicate both inside and outside of the workplace will soon revolve solely around social media. Happy #NationalSocialMediaDay!

Want to learn more about the future of work? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation on July 11 will host Work Forward, a program which will take a look at the people, places, and innovations that are shaping the way you work and do business. Find out more here and register!