Nate Riggs: Social Business Strategies; communication, social web strategies, & passion in Columbus, Ohio.

Companies are still trying to get their head around the social web.  That’s understandable.  The change is still pretty new.

As humans, we sometimes fear change.  That’s normal.  But when humans fear change, they often try to shut the door and keep it out, avoiding it at all costs.  An example of this might be humans in a company (you know who you are) deciding to prohibit their employees from accessing social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

My personal opinion on the matter of blocking social media in companies is this:  don’t.  It’s a stupid and fear-driven decision that results in countless opportunities missed.  If you’re a corporate decision-maker and you want to know more about why I feel that way, as well as what those missed opportunities might be, contact me directly.  We can chat about your organization, your business objectives, and how the social web could be a valuable part of your business toolbox.

Hack The System
But for the rest of you – the people on the ground floor who see the power of the social web, but are being denied access to your tools – I want to help you hack the system.  Here’s a tip – sign up for a HootSuite account today (Disclosure: I am a user, but not an affiliate).

HootSuite is different from Seesmic, Tweetdeck and the slew of other Twitter apps in that it’s browser-based.  Essentially, HootSuite is a website to that allows you to access other websites in one central location, without pulling information behind your company’s firewall.  That means you can access any social network that is integrated with HootSuite.  Right now, those are LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Ping FM.

From the few people I’ve asked to try this out, who are blocked at the office, this seems to be working.  Accessing your social profiles from HootSuite actually cheats the permissions set up on your corporate server, because it falls under a different domain name.

Here’s the thing, though: for how long this will work is a crapshoot.  Chances are your corporate IT pros may not know about it yet.  But in reality, all they will have to do is place a block on HootSuite’s domain.

For now, you might get lucky.  My attitude is: do first and apologize later (if you need to).  But make your own decision with this one…

Big Picture
There’s a very valuable lesson in this scenario.  Simply put, it is that change is inevitable.  The example above looks at the rules and bends them to make something work.  In Trust Agents, Brogan and Smith call this a “hack.”  In systems, there is always a hack.  There is always a way to look at the rules and find a potential work-around to create an advantage.

Advice for Companies
Companies should think of the social web as a raging waterfall of human information.  In essence, you will never be able to dam up the waterfall – it’s far too BIG.  You will never truly be able to stop the information from flowing.

Because of smart humans and our ability to be, in a sense, “hackers,” we will always find a way to get to the falls.  We want to be around other humans and we want information.  And when you find a way to stop us from getting what we want, we will find another way to hack your system.  We humans always do.

Consider this: Instead of trying to build a dam, why not build a channel?  Why not embrace the flow of human information and find ways to make it productive for your organization?

Why not build a water mill?

Thoughts?