What a great month it’s been so far.  Not only does Pink 2012 start this weekend, but I’ve been able to spend the past two days training my coworkers in the mysterious art of S***-**w.  I will definitely say I love the tool platform, and have an adoration for the tool similar to showing off a recently purchased Lambourghini, but I also ran into an interesting problem during the training sessions.  The problem, unfortunately, is social media.

S***-**w, like so many other applications out in IT, has it’s own social media feed similar to Twitter.  While proudly demonstrating how the feature could be used, I ran into resistance with (more than a few) colleagues that saw no point to it whatsoever.  Sure, a few people thought it was pretty cool (I’ll hint that most were of a different demographic then the non-believers), but overall I would say there was disbelief that anyone could communicate in any method outside of email.  Ironically, some of these people didn’t even recall receiving an email I sent last week regarding the training, so I have no idea how they even communicate short of a tin can with a string.  When asked why the social media feature was even present in S***-**w, I started giving the answer of “this is how the next generation communicates, so we better be ready.”

If you’re reading this and are over 30, please don’t get offended – I fit into that same demographic so I’m also insulting myself.  Unfortunately, we can’t ignore the fact that the next generation of IT people will be growing up with Twitter, Facebook and instant messaging as their main methods of communication.  I found this out the hard way when I wanted to get in touch with my college-attending cousins.  I always receive a Twitter or Facebook response, mostly receive a text reply, sometimes get my phone call answered, and flat out never get emails.  It’s just not what they do and let’s be realistic, when they enter the workforce they probably will communicate the same way.

If there’s doubt about the acceptance of social media in the world of IT (I’m thinking of you IT Skeptic), I’m not surprised given that this culture of communication is with the youngest generation and they not only have a low percentage of IT jobs, but also are not in the managerial and high level positions to help push the adoption.  I’m thankful that we have a few good evangelists out there trying to spread the message (Chris Dancy for sure), but we haven’t reached the tipping point of comfort for social media in IT.

Now I’m going to get a little biblical in my post, but please bear with me as it pertains to my answer.  Back several thousands of years ago the Jews, recently freed from slavery with the help of this stuttering guy named Moses, ran into a problem.  I won’t go into details, but the end result was they were forced to wander the desert for forty years as a type of punishment.  People have analyzed the bible and came to the conclusion that the reason for the wandering wasn’t so much of a punishment, but rather a training period in which the older generation was to grow and die off, allowing the next generation to grow up, and having never known slavery, would be more motivated to fight to keep in and not just roll over into shackles.

If you’re not following my line of thinking, I’ll spell it out; social media will become a part of IT when it’s part of the habitual way of working and communicating.  When will this happen?  When we have a majority of staff working in technology that comfortably, and naturally, use social media to communicate, find answers, and essentially use it minute by minute to do their jobs.  No, social media will never replace IT processes (which is why I’m still investing in my own ITIL future), nor will it replace the general reason for existence of IT to help “the business” realize value.  Social IT is simply just a different way to get things done and I’m not expecting to worry about it for another forty years.  Well, factor in the fast pace of technology, and it may be more like four.

Michael

Started working in IT in 1999 as a support desk analyst as a way to help pay for food during college. Studied Electrical Engineering for two years before realizing biochemistry was more fun than differential equations, and so ultimately graduated with a Biology degree in 2006. Having (reluctantly) failed at getting accepted into dental school, embraced working in IT and has gone broke becoming an ITIL Expert. Likes to jog, sing camp songs, quote Mel Brooks movie lines and make dumb jokes and loves working for an Israeli tech company where December 25th is a regular work day.