Social Media and the Work-Life Balance

We spend a fair amount of time on this blog extolling the virtues of social media. It’s not surprising, of course, from a social media marketing company, but it’s also valid: social media has enormous benefits for businesses, because it offers them an unparalleled opportunity to engage with their customers on a one-to-one level.

It’s still pretty much the case that Australia shuts down for Christmas. From mid-December to mid-January, the wheels of business slow to a crawl. Companies either close completely or operate on a skeleton service as employees disperse to enjoy their annual holidays. Already, this year’s Christmas parties are being planned as the ‘silly season’ is once again almost upon us.

But for how much longer will that be the case? Change, for the most part, is a good thing. But how good is change that sees the lines between work time and leisure time become increasingly blurred?

Tim Burrowes, the man behind Mumbrella, recently blogged on the issue of burnout: ‘In the media and marketing industry, work-life balance is broken like never before.’ Because people who use social media don’t sleep (or at least never sleep at the same time), the important task of following consumer conversations and engaging with them about the issues they identify is a 24 hours a day, 365 days a year job.

Social media monitors or marketers are on the verge of becoming the online equivalent of emergency services personnel – always on call, never (really) off duty. Sure, it’s part of the job, but time away from work is important – crucial, even – in doing any job properly.

And as the undoubted benefits of social media interaction are discovered by more and more companies, are we going to see a seismic shift that sees the Christmas break become a thing of the past? Is social media tipping us over into becoming a truly capitalistic society, where business never sleeps and traditional behavioural patterns are deemed obsolete? And, is that a good thing?

I’d be interested in your thoughts…