As more and more of us are jumping on the social networking bandwagon and signing up to sites such as Facebook and Twitter in the hope of expanding our social networks and business relations, we may in fact be damaging our channels of communication with one another.

On the one-hand, businesses are seeing the benefits of using social networking sites to market their products and services, keep in touch with clients and make staffing decisions based on information that can be found on personal profiles. Whilst on the other-hand, writing e-mails, tweets, blogs and wall posts can be an easy and convenient way to keep in touch with friends, family, coworkers and clients but the danger is these are often brief, generic, and can easily be misinterpreted due to the lack of emotion and tone we are able to put across in an actual conversation. Face to face meetings and phone conversations are becoming few and far between in these busy times where every minute is precious. Employees are using e-mails to communicate with colleagues rather than walk to their desks, causing a real break down in office relationships. The constant flow of e-mails can be a real distraction and can actually slow down the efficiency of work, whilst people wait for responses and sign off’s which could be resolved with a simple phone call.

So the question is ‘Are we actually over using social networking sites now and preventing real communication?’ Is it really necessary for our clients to know everything about our personal lives or are our work and home lives better kept apart? Is it fair that our future employers judge whether or not to hire us based on a slightly embarrassing photo taken on a hen weekend two years ago? Will we end up having to set up a ‘professional’ business profile as well as a personal one? Do we spend two much time typing messages and analysing their true meaning rather than actually talking to each other?

For a real chat with a real person about your recruitment needs, visit Earl Street Recruitment today.