A major survey released today by AT&T shows that the use of social networking tools as part of everyday working life has led to an increase in efficiency.

“Enterprise 2.0,” a pan-European survey of more than 2,500 people in five countries – Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands – shows that of those employees using social networking tools in the workplace, 65% say that it has made them and/or their colleagues more efficient. In addition, 46% say that it has sparked ideas and creativity for them personally.

In this exclusive FIR Interview, Martin Silman, Executive Director, AT&T Global Concept Marketing, discusses some of the survey’s key findings including how employees with first-hand experience of using social networks at work on a daily basis recognise the benefits, explains two major negatives that emerged from the survey, headhunting via social networks across Europe, and offers some advice for organizations.

Listen to this podcast now:

[display_podcast]

Get this podcast:

• Download the MP3 file (11.2Mb, 24:34)
• Get the show on iTunes
• Subscribe to the FIR Interviews RSS feed

About our Conversation Partner

Martin Silman graduated in Computer Science in Portsmouth, England, back in the days when computers required whole buildings to house them. As a member of the British Computer Society and an International Chartered Engineer with a post-grad diploma in marketing, Martin worked with IBM for 15 years, initially as part of their software development division and latterly as a consultant focused on business process re-engineering using EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) and similar technologies. During that time, he had a number of works published, including the EDI User Guide written for and published by the UK government.

Since joining AT&T in 1998, Martin has held a number of product management and marketing roles and has been responsible, initially, for the introduction of AT&T’s Global Managed Internet Service and AT&T Managed Data Networking Services, and more recently, for the MPLS based Enhanced VPN Services and until recently, he led the non-US product organisation that has been responsible for developing and introducing many of AT&T’s retail products available in the global marketplace today.

His current role is focused on initiatives which confirm AT&T as a leader in the telecoms market space, such as the Formula 1 motor racing initiative which provides state of the art communications to racing teams and other players in that arena.

Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future interviews, in the FIR FriendFeed Room. You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America), +44 20 8133 9844 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIR or at Jaiku: fir.jaiku.com. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the twice-weekly Hobson & Holtz Report, subscribe to the full RSS feed.

This FIR Interview is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Podsafe music – On A Podcast Instrumental Mix (MP3, 5Mb) by Cruisebox.

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)