80、90后不能不会的5个社交媒体技能

    他们是在Facebook上长大的一代，有些人离开网络甚至根本就不了解这个世界，他们把自己的生活巨细无遗地发布在Instagram上，而且他们了解新闻也不是通过电视，而是通过Twitter。

    但是在如何使用社交网络来工作这个问题上，千禧一代（也就是80后和90后们）的无知程度却到了惊人、甚至是危险的地步。美国雪域大学S.I.钮豪斯公共传播学院（SyracuseUniversity's S.I.NewhouseSchool of Public Communications）授教授威廉•沃德说：“一个人生于社交媒体年代，并不意味着他就是运用社交媒体工作的专家。这就好比说，我从小玩传真机，但它并不会让我成为一个商业专家。”

    沃德在雪域大学主讲一系列受到学生普遍欢迎的本科和研究生课程，他在Twitter上有13500名粉丝。他认为，千禧一代缺乏不少重要领域上的知识。虽然他们擅于在社交网络上联络自己已经认识的人，但是他们往往很难识别出Twitter、Facebook、商务社交网站LinkedIn和图片分享网站Instagram等社交网站上的职业机会和陷阱。

    “八零后”们身上往往还带着其它一些标签，比如理想主义、自以为是、急功近利、渴望认同等等，这些都可能在工作上给他们带来麻烦。沃德指出：“很多企业招聘千禧一代是因为觉得他们肯定擅长社交媒体。结果他们的老板沮丧地发现，这些人并没有掌握这些技能。”沃德还指出，企业对八零后员工社交媒体技能的期望往往要高于年长的员工。

    对于学生和初入职场的毕业生来说，学习一些社交媒体技能完全有必要。事业心强的八零后们尤其要重温一下以下五个社交媒体技能：

     知道什么时候按下删除键

    去年九月，商业新闻网站Business Insider的技术总监帕克斯•迪克金森因为自己发表在私人Twitter账户上的言论而被东家开除，引起了广泛的关注。迪克金森在Twitter上发表的关于女性和少数族裔的言论的确非常无礼，但是这个案例也暗示了一个更大的问题。八零后们有时意识不到个人言论有时也会造成职业上的影响。Twitter、Facebook等社交网络都是大型公众平台，你在上面发表的言论经常会反馈到老板的耳朵里。迪克金森的事例表明，很少有哪个公司愿意把自己和种族歧视或其它歧视性的内容联系在一块儿，哪怕你的本意只是讲个笑话。

    用社交媒体节省时间

    据科技类求职网站Salary.com去年的一项调查显示，人们在工作时间最经常上的私人网站是Facebook。随着社交网站的繁荣，现在大家上班时不仅要上Facebook，还会刷Twitter和Instagram，社交媒体很有潜力成为职场的时间杀手。但同时社交媒体也可以节省工作时间。麦肯锡公司（McKinsey）最近的一份报告指出，社交媒体的内部协作能力有可能为企业界节省高达1.3万亿美元的资金。比如像Yammer这样的内部社交网络可以让员工组成虚拟的工作组，在信息板上进行沟通。员工们在协作时不再需要无穷无尽的邮件往来，而是可以持续在信息流上发布或回复消息。虽然这些都不是什么革命性的新技术，但是八零后和九零后们在如何在企业内部使用社交网络这个问题上，眼前仍然是一团黑。

    They're the generation brought up on Facebook. Some have never known a world without the Internet. The innermost details of their lives have been exhaustively Instagrammed, and they get their news from Twitter, not TV.

    But when it comes to using social media at work, millennials -- the generation whose birth years can range anywhere from 1980 and 2000 -- can be surprisingly, even dangerously, unprepared. "Because somebody grows up being a social media native, it doesn't make them an expert in using social media at work," says William Ward, professor of social media at SyracuseUniversity's S.I.NewhouseSchool of Public Communications. "That's like saying, 'I grew up with a fax machine, so that makes me an expert in business.'"

    According to Ward, who has 13,500 Twitter followers and teaches a series of popular undergraduate and graduate courses on social media at the university, millennials are lacking in a number of critical areas. While they're very good at connecting with people they already know, they often fail to understand the professional opportunities and pitfalls posed by networks like Twitter (TWTR), Facebook (FB), LinkedIn (LNKD), and Instagram.

    Combined with some of the other predispositions of Generation Me -- idealism, entitlement, a need for instant gratification, and recognition -- this can be a recipe for trouble. "Companies hire millennials because they think they're good at social media. Then their bosses discover they don't have those skills and get frustrated," Ward says, noting that social media expectations are often higher for millennials than for older workers, who may be just as inept.

    For students and recent grads entering the workforce, some social media 101 is definitely in order. In particular, career-minded millennials desperately need to brush up on these five social media skills:

    Knowing when to hit the bleep button

    Last September, Business Insider attracted attention for firing its chief technology officer, Pax Dickinson, because of comments he made on his personal Twitter account. While Dickinson's Tweets on women and minorities were especially offensive, the situation hints at a larger issue. Millennials sometimes fail to appreciate that personal profiles can have professional repercussions. Twitter, Facebook, and other networks are largely public platforms; comments made can -- and often do -- get back to bosses. As the Dickinson case shows, few employers are eager to associate themselves with off-color or offensive content, even when it may be intended as a joke.

    Using social media to actually save time

    According to a 2013 Salary.com survey, the most frequently visited personal website at work is -- you guessed it -- Facebook. As networks proliferate -- and millennial employees not only check Facebook but also post on Twitter and browse Instagram and more -- social media has the potential to be a devastating time-suck. Yet it can also be a time saver in the office. A recent McKinsey report notes that social media has the potential to save companies $1.3 trillion, largely owing to improvements in intra-office collaboration. Internal social networks like Yammer enable employees to form virtual work groups and communicate on message boards. Instead of endless back-and-forths on email, co-workers can post and reply in continually updated streams. None of this is revolutionary, but millennials are often still in the dark on ways Facebook-like innovations are being taken behind the firewall.