Learning by wasting time

During the early days of the internet, many agencies stopped their employees accessing the web because senior management were concerned that too much time was being wasted on ‘idle’ surfing.  Never mind the fact that this surfing was the best way to learn about this exciting new technology.

According to Media Week’s Justin Hunt, many of these same agencies are in danger of repeating the mistake with social media.  In a recent post, he contrasts Dell’s enlightened decision to allow employees to access social media with the attitude of many agencies who use firewalls to prevent their staff from tracking how their clients’ brands are being portrayed on sites such as YouTube.  How can they claim to be guardians of their clients’ brands if they can’t even see how they are being treated in social media?

We devote a whole chapter in our new book to Dell’s transformation from blogging pariah to arch advocate of social media and this is yet another sign that Michael Dell and his team truly get it.  Check out Jeff Jarvis’ regular postings on the topic if you are interested. If only agency owners were as smart.