Integrating Social Media Into the Workplace: A Study of Shifting Technology Use Repertoires

This article published in the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media examines how employees utilize social media in multiple contexts and how it affects their work-life balance. The study concludes that social media's arrival in the workplace may exacerbate tensions and problems that are associated with presence-creep and the distortion of the work-life balance.

Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic
ISSN: 0883-8151 (Print) 1550-6878 (Online) Journal homepage: http
Integrating Social Media Into the
Study of Shifting Technology Use
Justin A. Walden
To cite this article: Justin A. Walden (2016) Integrating Social Me
Study of Shifting Technology Use Repertoires, Journal of Broadcasti
347-363, DOI: 10.1080/08838151.2016.1164163
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2016
Published online: 16 May 2016.
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Integrating Social Media Into the Workplace: A
Study of Shifting Technology Use Repertoires
Justin A. Walden
Research indicatesthat people are increasingly spending time with social
media and other information communication technology.However,scholars
have notfully examined how employees as holistic media consumers utilize
socialmedia in multiple contexts.Through in-depth interviews (N = 29),this
study demonstrates that even as social media are embedded in organizational
media use routines,employeesquestion thistechnology for2 reasons:It
distractsfrom tasksand threatenspersonalprivacy.These concerns often,
but not exclusively,relate to employee age and the amountof time they
have worked forthe company.The study concludes by arguing thatsocial
media’s arrivalin the workplace may exacerbate tensions and problems that
are associated with presence-creep and the distortion of the work-life balance.
In today’s digitally networked global economy, the boundaries between persona
and professional identities and between work and home spaces are being re-shape
Indeed, changing global market conditions and the increased availability of inform
tion communication technology are facilitating the blurring of lines between emplo
ees’ home and work environments(Deuze, 2007; Raine & Wellman, 2012).
Concerns aboutthe precarious nature ofwork (with employees having an increas-
ingly tenuousgrasp overtheir employment)and the increased expectation that
employeesremain constantly connected to work have been raised by scholars
such as Deuze (2007),Gregg (2011),and Gill and Pratt(2008).Along with these
concerns are questions about how and when it is appropriate to utilize various dig
platforms and communication devices. Most often, these discussions have occurre
with respect to the work-life balance and the ways in which employees are coping
with the intrusion ofwork-related communication technology into theirpersonal
lives. Overlooked in the literature, to this point, is another consideration: How rule
influence the use of personal social media in the workplace.
If we acknowledge thatbehaviors are often socially negotiated and interpreted
(i.e.,people learn from others abouthow to act),it becomes importantto examine
Justin A. Walden (Ph.D.,Pennsylvania State University) is an assistantprofessorat North Dakota State
University. His research interests include media use routines, employee/organizationalcommunication, and
brand management.
© 2016 Broadcast Education AssociationJournalof Broadcasting & Electronic Media 60(2), 2016, pp. 347–363
DOI: 10.1080/08838151.2016.1164163 ISSN: 0883-8151 print/1550-6878 online
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the processes by which socialrules are developed and maintained with respectto
communications technology. In treating the workplace as a distinct system, a line of
structuration-guided scholarship (e.g.,Orlikowski,1992;Sinclaire & Vogus,2011;
Watson-Manheim & Belanger, 2007) has considered the relationship between social
exchange and rule developmentand agency-imbued individuals’experiences with
technology. This scholarship holds that rules as structures influence human behavior
and these rulesare established in response to technologicaland socialfactors.
Although evidence suggests thatour personaland professionalmedia identities are
merging,a deeper consideration ofhow one’s personaland professionalnetworks
are arranged and the meaningsthatworkersgive to theirvariousaudiencesis
needed.It is also worthwhile to investigate the socially negotiated developmentof
rules for acceptable socialmedia use in the workplace.This case study ofa small
United States company explored the influence ofindividualbackgrounds on the
developmentof organizationalmedia use routinesand the crossoverof media
consumption activities into multiple realms.
Literature Review
The economic downturn of the 21stcentury’s firstdecade and broader changes
relating to globalization have leftemployees,particularly well-paid and high-
statusworkers,in a more precarioussituation than a generation ago (Gill&
Pratt,2008;Gregg,2011).Work today is seen as less secure and more centered
on the individual,with employees bearing the bruntof finding,negotiating,and
securing work (Deuze,2007; Gill & Pratt, 2008).Along with these structural
changes,the explosion ofmobile information and communication technologies
in the last fifteen yearshas made work inherently more accessible than ever
before.Employees can now easily check email,work remotely,and stay abreast
of work issuesfrom home and while they travel.This has given rise to more
flexible work schedulesand explicit(from corporate)and implicit(from peers)
expectationsthatemployeesremain constantly connected to theirjobs (Gill &
Pratt, 2008; Gregg, 2008; 2011). This is best understood as a process of “presence
bleed,” where work-related communication platformsand devicescreep into
spacesand timesthat were previously offlimits (Gregg,2011).Quite simply,
employees face more pressure to remain virtually “on” even when they are not
in the physical environment of work. This has implications for the divide between
work and home:“[F]acilitated by advancements in information and communica-
tion technologies … work and leisure can increasingly be seen as extensions of
each other” (Deuze,2007,p. 30). This transition to a media-saturated environ-
mentinvolves personalinformation spaces,which are spheres ofindividualtech-
nology use thatare habitually incorporated into everyday life (Deuze,2007).
Personalinformation spacesare physical(the location ofwhere we consume
media such asthe office or home and the devicesthat we use to consume
media)and experiential(interacting and communicating with people).
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A significant body of literature considers the various issues involved in the main
tenance ofthe work-life balance (e.g.,Denker& Dougherty,2013;Gregg,2011;
Greenhaus,Collins,& Shaw,2003;Hill, Hawkins,Ferris,& Weitzman,2001).It
would be shortsighted to argue that technology alone is responsible for reshaping
boundaries between our personaland professionallives.Yet of these factors,tech-
nology,along with communication,plays a centralrole in structuring sociallife
(Orlikowski& Yates,1994).Industry research bears this out.U.S. adults consumed
more than 11 hours of media each day in 2011 on average (EMarketer.com, 2012)
Furthermore, U.S. adults spend, on average, 23 hours per week communicating w
each othervia social media,phones,and email (EMarketer.com,2013). This
research indicates thatpersonaland professionalactivities are often intermingled
when we engage with technology.Reflecting this,contemporary business literature
holds thatemployees who use socialmedia in theirpersonallives expectsimilar
tools at work (Holmes, 2012).
In addressing the implications ofthe use oftechnology in multiple contexts,it is
helpfulto consider the composition ofindividuals’various professionaland social
networks.The widespread adoption ofmobile technologies and socialmedia has
given rise to what Raine and Wellman (2012) called networked individualism, whic
is the idea that people function more as connected individuals and less as embedd
group members in networks.Networks are larger,more diversified,and prone to
change in this generation than in prior generations. Raine and Wellman (2012) arg
that mobile and social technologies have not isolated people as was initially feared
but instead, they have reconfigured social relations in such a way that people hav
more freedom to move from group to group. Related to this, the concept of contex
collapse describes the flattening outof multiple distinctaudiences in one’s social
network (Vitak,2012).Ratherthan making each audience distinct,social media
erase the lines between temporal, social, and spatial boundaries to the point wher
one’s audiences are treated as one large homogenous group (Vitak,2012).This is
seen as problematic in the context of work, as employees have developed strateg
to ward off context collapse and to maintain a degree of separation from work and
home (Vitak, Lampe, Ellison, & Gray, 2012).
The increased potentialfor peer-interaction outside ofthe workplace on social
media brings to mind privacy-related questions involving the maintenance of profe
sional/personal boundaries. The rise of interactive media and the new capabilities
networks to carry mass amounts of information have given rise to a digital enclosu
for consumers (Andrejevic, 2002; 2009). The enclosure of personal information is a
form ofexploitation in which companies have unequalaccess to data collection,
storage,and manipulation.From the consumer’s perspective,entry into a digital
enclosureis frequentlypredicated on surveillanceor monitoring(Andrejevic,
2009).This has implications thatcan be applied to the professionalspace.Twitter
tweets,Facebook status updates,and other socialmedia posts thatare shared and
seen by one’s co-workers allhave the potentialto contribute to a subculture of
support in the workplace (Gregg, 2011). However, scholars have not fully explored
the relationship between the surveillance proclivities of employers and this suppor
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environment (Gregg, 2011). As we consider employee boundary maintenance beha-
viors, it becomes important to look at the rules that develop around social media use
in the workplace.
Media Use Routines in Context
One way to think about the adoption and patterning of technology into our lives is
through media choice and routine. Giddens (1984) argued that “routine (whatever is
done habitually)is a basic elementof day-to-day socialactivity” (p.xxiii).Actions
have a habitual quality that is deeply embedded in the structured routines of every-
day life (Taneja,Webster,Malthouse,& Ksiazek,2012).Structuration theory offers
insightabout the developmentof media use routinesand rule-development.
According to structuration,people influence the creation ofand are influenced by
the iterative reproduction ofsocialnorms (structures)in social systems (Giddens,
1983; 1984).Structure hasthree dimensions:signification (rulesthat constitute
meaning);domination (rules thatdetermine the nature ofpower),and legitimation
(rules that are interpreted and sanctioned by agents) (Giddens, 1984). In other words
agents’meaning-making,power,and normative sanctionsare all intertwined in
human action.Structuration isfurtherpredicated on the notion thatagentsand
structure exist as a duality and are linked (Giddens, 1984). Rules-guiding structures
are both the medium and outcome of the daily conduct in which actors engage.
Structuration theory has informed multiple studies on organizational routines and
technology (e.g.,Orlikowski,2000;Orlikowski& Yates 1994;Taneja etal., 2012;
Vallaster& de Chernatony,2006).With these routines,embedded structuresin
organizations shape the action taken by employees and are modified through social
interaction.Coworkersengage with each other,social exchange happens,and
informaland formalrules develop.This, by extension,can influence employees’
technology use (Orlikowski,1992). Two terms frame the routinized use oftechnol-
ogy at work, genres and repertoires. A genre is a socially recognized communication
action thatis habitually enacted by members ofa community for a socialpurpose
(Orlikowski & Yates, 1994). Community members enact a genre by drawing on their
tactic and explicitknowledge ofgenre rules (Orlikowski& Yates,1994).Genres
include memos, meetings, and videos among other forms and genre repertoires are
collections ofindividualgenres.Genres are enacted through genre rules and dis-
cursive structures that are manifested in multiple organizational and social contexts
(Heracleous, 2006). Related to the notion of genres, Watson-Manheim and Belanger
(2007,p. 268) held thata communication media repertoire isa “collection of
communication media and identifiable routines ofuse for specific communication
purposes within a defined usercommunity.” Once established,these repertoires
frame the expectationsfor communitymembers’continued interactionswith
media.Socialexchanges are incorporated into media use repertoires,which are
comprised of both technology and technology-use routines in defined user commu-
nities (Watson-Manheim & Belanger, 2007).
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People create theirown repertories ofselective media use based on the many
options before them (Taneja etal., 2012).Individuals use media to accomplish a
purpose, observe consequences of usage, and then modify usage based on interp
tions of usage consequences. This adaptation becomes patterned as part of media
routines in systems, particularly in organizations. Institutional conditions influence
development of norms of communication media usage, both directly and indirectly
influencing perceptions ofcapabilities of media (Taneja etal., 2012). Emerging from
the technology that scholars examined in the initial structuration studies of the 19
social media offer a new set of resources for the maintenance of norms and behav
socialsystems.More to the point,Sinclaire and Vogus (2011)argued that“social
networking technology providesa continuousfeedback loop thatresultsin new
sources ofstructure (new tasks,new styles ofinteracting)thatsupportnew decision
processes and outcomes…” (p. 298). This feedback loop is involved in the reshapin
and redevelopmentof personalinformation spaces and reconsideration ofpersonal
and professionalroles.Socialmedia are capable ofspanning more boundaries than
prior technologies given their pervasiveness and expected use in personal and pro
sional contexts (Deuze, 2007; Gregg, 2008; 2011).
In summary,a literature review suggests thatmore attention has been placed on
the creep of work into workers’ personal lives, and not the reverse. In other words
scholars have not fully examined the rules for acceptable personal social media us
at work. To advance the literature in this area, this study investigated the process
by which the rules governing social media use were socially negotiated in a profes
sional setting.Specifically,this study considered employees’ responses to the intro-
duction of social media as personal media spaces into the workplace by addressin
the following research question:
RQ1: How have employees’ boundary-related rules between personal and profes
sional contexts influenced the incorporation of social media into technology
use repertoires at work?
In answering this question it was expected that the discussion would yield insigh
into organizationalmedia repertoiredevelopment,demonstratehow context-
appropriate social media use develops in the workplace, and allow for a discussion
of the applied management implications of the introduction of social media at wor
Methods
For this study,in-depth interviews were conducted with 29 employees ata 250-
person company, “RanStar.” Respondents included two executives and an informa
tion technology specialistwho provided company background information atthe
start of the project and 26 frontline employees who discussed their experiences w
technology.
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Study Procedures
Seven companies were originally approached in the NortheastUnited States to
serve as a potential research site for this study. RanStar agreed to participate on the
condition thatthey receive an executive summary ofthe report.Interviews were
conducted over a yearlong period from 2012 to 2013, with twenty-three occurring in
RanStar’sofficesand six interviewsoccurring via telephone.Fourteen men and
fifteen women participated.On average,respondents had worked atRanStarfor
9.0 years.Interviews were recorded and transcribed,while allemployees received
a pseudonym for confidentiality. A company manager, who was not interviewed or
present for interviews, randomly selected an initial group of employees who volun-
teered to participate.The semi-structured interviews involved high-levelquestions
abouttechnology in multiple contexts and then detailed follow-up questions about
this use (see Appendix).
Research Site
RanStarhas three primary divisions(support/administration,research/develop-
ment, and sales) and annual revenue of greater than $20 million, which is generated
through selling multiple servicesand productsin the technology sector.Most
employees work in a three-floor building at the company’s Northeast
U.S. headquarters, and a small number of employees work in offices outside of the
U.S. The lone non-native English-speaking respondenthad spoken the language
professionally for atleast15 years.Employees generally believe RanStar is a good
company to work for and evidence such as industry awards and employee surveys
support this. Company executives and managers reported few administrative issues,
while frontline employees largely indicated that they were happy with work and their
peers. RanStar did not have an official policy regarding social media use at work at
the time of the study.
Data Analysis
Ongoing data analysis and interpretation through the data collection process fit
with both the grounded theory (Dey, 1999) and case study (Yin, 2009) approaches.
The case study approach involves multiple tactics and has flexibility provided the
researcher thoroughly describes the selected phenomena under consideration and
engages in rigorous data analysis (Yin,2009).Coding ofemergentcategories and
concepts, detailed memoing throughout data collection, and various member check-
ing and data validation activities gives grounded theory a strong foundation from
which interpretations can be logically drawn (Charmaz,2006).Researcher memos
were embedded in the interview transcription files as initial data analysis points. This
initial analysisconsideredthemes,commonalties,and differencesrelatingto
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employee backgrounds. Specifically, the analysis evaluated attitudes about the int
duction ofsocialmedia into the workplace based on the employee’s department,
whetheror not they were a manager,amountof time atRanStar,and amountof
social media they reported using outside of work.
From memos and initialdata analysis, lower and higher order concepts emerged
as concepts and categories respectively.With structuration’s focus on the interplay
between rules and agents’behavior,initial categories included “sanctioned” and
“unsanctioned” media use and “formal” and “informal” social rules. With a second
round of data analysis,these categoriesbecame “socialmonitoring” and “work
routines.” Atthe conclusion ofthe initialinterviews,high-levelfindings and inter-
pretations were shared by the researcherwith the RanStarliaison.This member
checking helped with respondent and reliability checks. Although theoretical satur
tion is often used with qualitative interviewing, Dey (1999) suggested a more appr
priate term of suggestive saturation. In suggestive saturation, the researcher stop
collection when they feel the data can no longer generate new ideas. About halfwa
through interviews,severalconsistently voiced views abouttechnology atRanStar
were observed and this served as the foundation for the study’s findings.
Findings
In response to this study’s research question,analysis ofinterview data revealed
thatthe incorporation ofsocialmedia into technology use routines atRanStar has
been contested because ofconcernsaboutout-of-work monitoring ofpersonal
behaviorand concernsaboutmonitoring ofin-work behavior.Although social
media have been touted fortheirability to provide instantfeedback to support
group decision-making in the workplace (Sinclaire & Vogus,2011),findings reveal
that this feedback affordance prompts privacy questions among employees. Altho
rarely verbalized in directperson-to-person communication,these concerns contri-
bute to the developmentof the overallcompany culture.Furthermore,these con-
cerns are disrupting the integration of social media into technology use repertoire
work and are preventing social media from being fully maximized by employees fo
company-sanctioned tasks.With structuration’s focus on the production and repro-
duction of social norms, the study offers several rules for social media in this secti
Social Media Monitoring
Analysis ofqualitative interviews shows thatpersonalsocialmedia contribute to
environmentalsurveillance in the workplace on multiple levels.The data further
supportthe idea thatemployees seek to maintain a clear separation between their
professional and personal audiences (Gregg, 2011; Vitak et al., 2012). A contributi
of this study is to show thatsurveillance wasrelated to two factors:Age and
employee tenure with the company. Veteran employees and older employees wer
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more likely to limitsocialmedia use atwork and to see socialmedia as threats to
productivity, while younger and more junior employees were usually more inclined
to utilize Facebook, Twitter, and other sites during the day for a mix of personal and
professional purposes. Additionally, employees who had worked for the company for
longer tended to be more explicitin their comments aboutat-work monitoring of
employees (checking to see who was using socialmedia as a distraction in the
physical office) than junior employees.
Although respondents were carefulto not outwardly criticize individualpeers,
several veteran employees expressed frustration with general social media use in the
office. Consider a midlevel a manager with extensive professional experience:
We have people in this company obviously who spend more time on Facebook
than others. If I were to try to correlate that, I’d think the more junior roles, for
whatever reason, maybe they’re not mentally stimulating or challenging enough
to the people,or maybe those people are justat a stage in their lives where
they’re more interested in the social aspects of life than they are in say, career
aspects.
This manager believed the company could adopta Facebook-type site internally
that encouragesusersto contribute personalcontent,yet “I just can’t see any
immediate orobvious reason why we would do it.” Chuck,who has worked for
RanStar for more than a decade,was also dismissive ofthis technology:“Younger
people who grew up with that stuff, they’ll embrace it and see really a need for the
social media aspects of it. But I don’t.” These two senior employees, who said they
do not use social media at home, criticized the use of this technology at work, which
is in line with several peers.
Severalrespondentsreported eitherwatching theirpeersuse socialmedia or
having had the experience ofbeing watched.To the formerpoint,Kara,a mid-
level managerwho has been with the companyfor a decadeoffered these
comments:
I know that as I walk through the building I see a lot of people on Facebook and
they’re notusing itwork-wise.I think there’s just,there are certain … Idon’t
know whatI wantto say,it’s notgenres but… there are certain cliques or
groups that would probably be lost if we didn’t allow it.
Selecting her words carefully,Kara said itis “odd” seeing employees who recently
have joined the company use Facebook and the company’s internal chat program for
non-work purposes rather than work tasks. Kara’s use of “odd” and “lost” suggests a
negative attitude toward socialmedia,which, as expressed in othervenues and
interactions with peers,reveals the tension involved in socialmedia’s emergence
in the workplace as a media genre. Though rarely expressed in verbal communica-
tion, this monitoring ofemployee behaviorin the office serves as a distinctnon-
verbal communicativeaction and signal to employeesthat overuseof this
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technology isnot acceptable.Thus a rule for social media can be seen in this
context:Personalsocialmedia use isallowed provided itis discreetand not a
significant distraction.
Interviews indicated that there are potential concerns at RanStar with another ty
of monitoring. Employees who reported the greatest amount of personal social me
use tended to be worried about their peers’ following their out-of-work behaviors o
socialnetworking sites.The resulttended to be a separation ofsocialnetworks to
minimize context collapse (Vitak et al., 2012). Seventeen employees reported eith
having few to no coworkers as social media friends or strongly controlling the acce
of their colleagues to their socialmedia profiles.These employee-preferred distinc-
tions between professional and personal media spaces are seen in several comme
including a manager with more than a decade with the company,Isabel.In both
areas of home and work social media use, Isabel is “keeping people up to date” w
information.Although Isabelacknowledged thatthese two media routinescross
over,she added that,“I don’twantmy colleagues to know ifI go outon a Friday
nightand get drunk.My private life is my private life and my work life is my work
life.” Isabelis guarded aboutwhat is posted to herpersonalsocial media;this
respondentreported no coworkers as Facebook friends.Also consider Rachel, who
has “quite a few” coworkers as Facebook friends. Yet Rachel, who has been with th
company for ten years, rarely interacts with these peers online “because even tho
it’s the [RanStar] network, it’s still kind of like personal stuff.” The overlap betwee
personaland professionalroutines appears to have made heavy socialmedia users
uncomfortable.
According to Linda,a five-yearveteran ofthe company who worksin sales,
Facebook is “a fun way to share family photos and vacation photos and thatkind
of thing.Butwe’re notclosely watching each other on the socialnetworking site.”
Linda said itwould be “Big Brother like” ifpeople used Facebook to keep tabs on
their coworkers.Respondents indicated concern thatpersonalor sensitive informa-
tion that is posted to personal social media accounts will be misinterpreted by the
peers and willcause a problem atwork. Added Lane,who had been with the
company forless than a yearat the time of data collection:“One picture on
Facebook may look bad and people can read into things.” Related to this,Mirella,
who has been with RanStar for more than two decades,said people struggle with
boundaries on social media: “It seems like there are people that have … a hard tim
figuring out what’s appropriate to share and what isn’t. It’s a privacy kind of thing
Mirella’s comments were directed toward her peers, yetshe indicated that she was
not on Facebook or Twitter herself.
Prior research indicates that social media use varies considerably by age (Dugga
& Brenner,2013)and age appeared to partially influence attitudes toward social
media at RanStar. Respondents consistently voiced uneasiness about social media
the workplace. There was also a clear sense that employees should keep their soc
media audiences distinct. Yet the reasons for the concerns and for employees’ des
to ward off contextcollapse appeared to vary by age and by the amountof
experience with the company.In particular,employees who were the mostcritical
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about the loss of productivity due to social media had extensive professionalback-
grounds and were olderthan the average respondent.Senioremployees delegiti-
mized socialmedia because ofthe potentialto distractpeople from work.On the
otherhand,the concerns aboutprivacy intrusion were more strongly voiced by
employees who were either recently hired or younger than the restof their peers.
Junior employees were also more inclined to revealthatthey accessed personal
socialmedia atwork. In light of this analysis,anotherrule can be described at
RanStar: As employees grow into their work roles and as they are gradually exposed
to the company’s culture,they are expected to subjecttheirintra-organizational
interactions to strict scrutiny and to censor contact with their peers via social media.
Established Media Use Repertoires
Interview data indicate that when social media are embedded into peer-supported
structures and media use repertoires at RanStar, a clear understanding exists that th
technology willbe used to forthe greatergood of the company.Research and
developmentstaffwho work with internalclients make use ofinternalblogs for
task completion and troubleshooting.ConsiderLinda,who posts when she com-
pletes a hard task. The post alerts her teammates when problem is solved and share
knowledge.For Linda,blog posts are easier to find than other contentsuch as HR
policies on the intranet:
With a blog, it’s more like, “Hey I found this really cool thing that’s applicable
across the board. I’m going to tag it in ways that will allow you to find it if you’re
doing that kind of search.” Then you can go crazy and read what you want.
Similarly, Chuck’s team blogs when troublesome tasks are resolved. For example,
this group was confronted by an esoteric yet minor problem that delayed a project. A
peer spentseveralhours researching the topic and blogged aboutit. According to
Chuck, who is a senior employee, “Hopefully by him blogging it and letting every-
body out there know about it, it’ll be out there, a permanent record.” In one context
(personal),Chuck doesnot see the pointof social media and iscriticalof this
technology. However, in another context (professional),Chuck is an active internal
blog user. These blogs are sanctioned social technology at work.
Despite concerns aboutpersonalsocialmedia distractions and employee desires
to keep personal and professional social networks separate, use of internal blogs, to
varying degrees,is encouraged forthe bettermentof the company.Additionally,
RanStar’s intranet, Net-Source, has several interactive features that prompted severa
employees to liken it to personal social media. Net-Source allows employees to keep
profiles that the entire company can see. The intranet also features company photos
and news about social events. These affordances enabled new employee Julia to see
several similarities between at-work and at-home social media use. Like with perso-
nal social media, Net-Source serves a surveillance function as people post their daily
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work schedules,when they take time off,and projectupdates.According to Julia,
Net-Source is:
like Facebook at work. Some of the things that people post are more personal in
nature and you can see what everyone is doing. We don’t have status updates
but you can log onto people’s pages and see if they’re busy or free. I think there
are a lot of similarities between the two. This is more professional obviously.
Furthermore,employees rely on socialmedia to communicate externally with
clients and otherstakeholders.Twenty of29 respondents reported eitherhaving
active LinkedIn accounts or had publicly searchable LinkedIn profiles. There appea
to be pressure in the organization to adopt this platform. Elaina, a manager who h
been with the company for almost10 years,recalled discussing an issue with an
executive.As the conversation ended,the topic ofLinkedIn was raised and the
executive encouraged Elaina to join the site.This prompted her to consider joining
LinkedIn: “There is an allure to it. I probably should sign up.” New hire Autumn on
checks her Facebook account from her personal phone, which is beyond the reach
of the company’sIT staff and somewhathidden from view.When she checks
Facebook,it is usually for a “very brief” moment.Yet Autumn sees no issue with
keeping LinkedIn open on herwork computerto participate in professionalcon-
versations: “It helps strengthen the professional relationship.” Also consider Lila, w
keeps personalsocialmedia use atwork to a minimum.However,Lila regularly
accesses her LinkedIn account at work: “I’ll stay logged in to respond to discussion
and things like that.” This perspective relates to Sophie,a longtime employee who
uses LinkedIn to connect with clients in sales situations: “If you send them a mess
to them on LinkedIn, they reply.”
Another example of using social media for professional purposes is new hire Lan
who reported accessing Facebook to getcontactinformation forclientsthathe
personallyknows. Lane is careful about not postingpersonalinformation to
Facebook thatreflects poorly on him,and he also uses the site to facilitate profes-
sionalconversations during the workday.This supports the idea thatprofessional
networking is a new form of labor that is required to demonstrate ongoing employ
ability (Gregg, 2011). Although few other respondents mentioned using Facebook
professional communication, this example highlights the blurring of professional a
personalsocialmedia boundaries.Lane,Autumn,Lila, and Sophie allbelong to
teams whose primary responsibility includes working with externalclients rather
than having a job thatrequires to work primarily with internalstaff(who usually
make the greatestuse ofinternalblogs).Another rule can be seen in this context:
Employees who primarily work with externalclients are expected to engage with
clients through their socialmedia accounts.
Finally, the focus of this study was on at-work social media use. It should also be
noted that employees rarely reported using technology to work from home. This w
a function oforganization culture (they are notpressured by the company)and
individualchoice.Lila, who regularly uses LinkedIn atwork, was clearin stating
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that she disengages from these tools outside of the workplace: “At home, it’s my non
technology time.We don’tneed Facebook.We don’tneed email.I’m completely
disconnected.” This perspective resonated with many ofLila’s peers as only six
respondents reported regularly checking e-mailand doing RanStarwork athome.
A manager who was not among the main respondents confirmed this idea in a post-
project interview.
Discussion
There is a need to both contextualize and compare technology use across multiple
contexts (Deuze, 2007; Orgad, 2009; Webster, 2011). It is simply not enough to treat
spheres such as personal and professional as distinct without fully exploring the role
of technology in linking these areas.To advance theory and to help with applied
management practice, it is helpful to understand the experiential patterns and com-
munication exchangesthat connectmedia use routinesin multiple virtualand
physicalcontexts.This study advances both areas by looking employees’experi-
ences with a set of tools (social media) that are largely considered personal in nature
Findings indicate thatsocial media are being contested as they integrate with
communication media repertoires in the workplace. Three primary (and sanctioned)
uses for socialmedia atwork were documented in this study:accessing Facebook
and Twitter for mental breaks during the day; sharing task-related information tips on
internalorganizationalblogs;and communicating with professionalclients via per-
sonally maintained socialnetworking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn.To the
first point, younger employees and those who had most recently joined the company
were more willing to use social media for breaks during the day and to communicate
with peers at RanStar who were in another part of the building. These networks are
carefully maintained and employees frequently self-censor their posts.To the latter
two points,team structure appeared to influence rule-developmentwith respectto
socialmedia adoption.Internal-facing teams tended to make strongestuse ofblogs
and the company’s intranet, which are company-provided and company-sanctioned
tools. External-facing team members reported the greatest amount of use of Faceboo
and LinkedIn for professional purposes.
Two surveillance activities highlight the tensions involved in maintaining personal
and professionalboundariesand they disruptsocial media’sincorporation into
technology use repertoires.Recall that one respondentsaid it would be “Big
Brother like” ifthey were friends with a large number ofcoworkers on Facebook
and if mostemployeeslearned abouteach other’spersonalactivitiesvia social
media. Frequentsocial media users,who were most often junior employees,
appeared apprehensive aboutthe virtualmonitoring oftheirbehaviors by senior
peers and were concernedthat some posts/activitieswill be misconstrued.
Additionally,these users are aware thatthey are being monitored in the physical
office space.From the otherside, severalsenioremployeesacknowledged that
excessive socialmedia use should be keptin check and thatthey perceived this
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use to be a distraction atwork. This study is one ofthe firstto documentthese
distinctions and to note the problems associated with in-person monitoring of soci
media behaviors.
Findings reveal that the rules for social media use are influenced by both organi
zational and individual factors. Employees at RanStar, at the time of data collectio
were adjusting to the presence of social media at work. Boundaries with respect to
accessing socialmedia atwork and interacting with peers outside ofwork were
beginning to develop. Although the company had not formally required employees
to network with externalclientsand although there wasno policy thatlimited
excessive socialmedia use,these pressures appeared to be informally exerted by
the organization and tacitly understood by employees.Simultaneously,employees
expressed an overriding preference to distinguish professionalfrom personalnet-
works,which furtherlimited the viability ofsocialmedia as a setof knowledge-
sharing and productivity-enhancing tools. These are part of the structure of legitim
tion atRanStar,where employees understand and interpretrules (Giddens,1984).
Also in the language ofstructuration,these rules develop in response to agency-
imbued actors’intentions and actions.This study is one ofthe firstto consider the
application of structuration and the development of socially negotiated rules gove
ing social media in the workplace.
It has been argued that social media’s feedback loop can streamline and enhanc
group decision-making on projects (Sinclaire & Vogus,2011;Treem & Leonardi,
2012).On one hand,socialmedia may make iteasier for employees to work on
projects across geographic boundaries and flexible work schedules.Employees do
not all have to be in the same place at the same time to collaborate at work. On th
other hand, findings from this study show that social media also have the potentia
further contribute to the process of presence bleed. Employees of allages and time
with the company sought to separate their professional and personal relationships
fear that eithersocial media postswould eitherbe misinterpreted orthattheir
personalprivacy would be encroached upon.This supports research thatshows
employeesare developing strategiesto manage contextcollapse (Vitak etal.,
2012).RanStarhas an intranetwhere employees posttheirschedules and project
updates.Additionally,during the normalcourse ofthe day when employees take
breaks, many office doors and windows are open and it is relatively easy for emplo
ees to view each other’s computer screens. Thus virtual and in-person observation
employee behavior happens at work.
Justas work has intruded into private spaces,personalsocialmedia have been
introduced into the workplace and this offers the potentialfor intra-employee ten-
sion. Although employees went to great lengths to not criticize any peers by name
was also clearthatthere were concernswith respectto this issue.One senior
employee struggled to find the right words before finally admitting that some emp
ees would be “lost” without Facebook or Twitter at work. Generational and experi-
ential differences may contribute to misunderstanding about the role of social med
in the workplace,which may further exacerbate these tensions and may limitthe
application ofthis technology.Furthermore,the pressure for employees to network
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with theirpeers and clients in accounts thatare also largely personalin nature
contributesto the reshaping ofpersonaland professionalboundaries.For this
study,the organizationalculture atRanStarmeantthatemployees rarely reported
pressure to work at home in off-hours. However, for firms that place more stringent
requirements forat-home work,this link between personaland private on social
media may be even more problematic.
Scholars should continue to explore the overlap between professional-oriented
and personalsocialmedia use.In this respect,future studies could address how
employees define the terms “personal” and “professional.” Itis also imperative to
take a more detailed look atany additionaltechnology related activities(e.g.,
checking personalemailat work and work-related emailat home)thatare utilized
along with socialmedia in boundary setting.This would fit into the emerging
research on technology use routines(e.g.,Watson-Manheim & Belanger,2007;
Taneja etal., 2012).The literature would also benefitwith additionaldiscussion
about the ways in which organizations are formally and informally communicating
expectations for boundary-spanning technology use. Evidence in this study suggests
thatemployees are uncomfortable with the bridging ofpersonaland professional
networks thatoccurs via socialmedia.With the focus ofthis study on employee-
employee interactions, the role of the organization in setting rules for technology use
was notfully explored.Conventionalbusiness thinking (and professionalcommen-
taries)holds thatsocialmedia are a necessary componentof successfulorganiza-
tional communication. Yet at what point does strategic organizational deployment of
socialmedia become problematic monitoring from the organization and employee
perspectives? Such issues will need to be addressed as media routines and boundary
setting behaviors are explored in subsequent studies.
From an applied management perspective, social media should not be viewed as a
cure-allfor employee communication.Although commentariessuch as Holmes
(2012)argue socialmedia are necessary forbusiness today,incorporating itinto
everyday organizationalculture is notwithoutrisks.Simply introducing organiza-
tional social media profiles, discussion boards, and microblogging platforms without
considering their effects on intra-employee relationships is potentially problematic
for managers.RanStar’s case demonstrates thatbroaderorganizationalconditions
and structures may simply inhibitthe widespread adoption ofinteractive technolo-
gies.Organizationalproductivity expectations and employee concerns aboutboth
task completion and privacy limitthe extentto which certain socialmedia are
utilized and this also limits the degree to which employees engage with peers on
social networking sites outside of the regular work day.
As a limitation, case study results may not be generalizable to other contexts (Yin,
2009).This calls for research atotherstudy sites.Concernsaboutprivacy,for
example,mightbe attenuated atlarger firms where employees do notknow each
other as intimately as at RanStar. It is also possible that employees in larger compa-
nies would more openly express frustrations aboutsocialmedia ifthey perceive a
greaterlikelihood ofanonymity than those in the tightknit company ofRanStar.
Additionally, the physical layout of RanStar’s headquarters, which consists of rows of
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offices in close proximity on three floors,may have heightened the concern about
social media use being monitored.
Conclusion
Combined with in-person meetings with peers and supervisors,virtualmeetings
and discussions on intranets and blogs, and casual interactions during breaks, soc
media are an added layer for surveillance in the workplace.In this respect,use of
Facebook, Twitter, and other emerging technologies enable employees to keep tra
of one another in yetanother context.This additionalmonitoring may exacerbate
tensions and problems that are associated with presence-creep and the distortion
the work-life balance.This study provides empiricalevidence thatage,employees’
tenure with their company, and team structure all contribute to the rule developm
and negotiation ofsocialmedia’s role in the workplace.The rules for socialmedia
use atwork are complex—and no doubtvary from organization to organization.
However,this study further demonstrates thatsocialmedia have markedly divided
functions in the context of work. Employees expect that social media will be made
available for personaluse during the workday (such as taking a break).Employees
also enjoy interacting with their peers that they have carefully screened and allow
into their networks.Yet even with these uses,socialmedia are criticized and their
potentialas a setof socialization and knowledge-sharing tools is notfully realized.
Thus the rules are a manifestation ofthe complex division between personaland
professional boundaries that employees conscientiously erect in the face of ongoin
pressure to merge these realms.
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Appendix
Interview Questions
● What is your role with RanStar?
● How long have you worked here?
● How do you use technology at home?
○ What about Twitter, Facebook and other social media?
○ Do you submit content to these sites or just read?
○ What hardware (phones, computers) do you own?
○ Please describe the last time you used social media at work.
● At work, what communications technologies do you use?
○ Please describe your use of RanStar’s intranet.
○ Do you primarily read or primarily submit content?
○ Do you post personal information or non-work thoughts?
○ How often do you use personal social media at work?
○ What are the general perceptions of personal social media use at work?
● Please compare your use of the intranet with outside social media use.
○ Do you see any similarities?
○ What are the differences?
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