They're the generation brought up on Facebook. Some have never known a world without the Internet. The innermost details of their lives have been exhaustively Instagrammed, and they get their news from Twitter, not TV.
But when it comes to using social media at work, millennials -- the generation whose birth years can range anywhere from 1980 and 2000 -- can be surprisingly, even dangerously, unprepared. "Because somebody grows up being a social media native, it doesn't make them an expert in using social media at work," says William Ward, professor of social media at SyracuseUniversity's S.I.NewhouseSchool of Public Communications. "That's like saying, 'I grew up with a fax machine, so that makes me an expert in business.'"
According to Ward, who has 13,500 Twitter followers and teaches a series of popular undergraduate and graduate courses on social media at the university, millennials are lacking in a number of critical areas. While they're very good at connecting with people they already know, they often fail to understand the professional opportunities and pitfalls posed by networks like Twitter (TWTR), Facebook (FB), LinkedIn (LNKD), and Instagram.
Combined with some of the other predispositions of Generation Me -- idealism, entitlement, a need for instant gratification, and recognition -- this can be a recipe for trouble. "Companies hire millennials because they think they're good at social media. Then their bosses discover they don't have those skills and get frustrated," Ward says, noting that social media expectations are often higher for millennials than for older workers, who may be just as inept.
For students and recent grads entering the workforce, some social media 101 is definitely in order. In particular, career-minded millennials desperately need to brush up on these five social media skills:
Knowing when to hit the bleep button
Last September, Business Insider attracted attention for firing its chief technology officer, Pax Dickinson, because of comments he made on his personal Twitter account. While Dickinson's Tweets on women and minorities were especially offensive, the situation hints at a larger issue. Millennials sometimes fail to appreciate that personal profiles can have professional repercussions. Twitter, Facebook, and other networks are largely public platforms; comments made can -- and often do -- get back to bosses. As the Dickinson case shows, few employers are eager to associate themselves with off-color or offensive content, even when it may be intended as a joke.
Using social media to actually save time
According to a 2013 Salary.com survey, the most frequently visited personal website at work is -- you guessed it -- Facebook. As networks proliferate -- and millennial employees not only check Facebook but also post on Twitter and browse Instagram and more -- social media has the potential to be a devastating time-suck. Yet it can also be a time saver in the office. A recent McKinsey report notes that social media has the potential to save companies $1.3 trillion, largely owing to improvements in intra-office collaboration. Internal social networks like Yammer enable employees to form virtual work groups and communicate on message boards. Instead of endless back-and-forths on email, co-workers can post and reply in continually updated streams. None of this is revolutionary, but millennials are often still in the dark on ways Facebook-like innovations are being taken behind the firewall.