Addiction to FACEBOOK, TWITTER, and the whole social media dynamic can be dangerous to both your physical and social health. And why is that? Because, spending too much time sitting before a computer monitor, is addictive type behavior, and certainly contributes to a sedentary lifestyle, which Doctors assert is a contributor to poor health.

But even more to the point is this fact: what you share on Facebook has the capacity of being spread around the internet exponentially faster than with a more traditional online application such as email.

And, notwithstanding a user’s computer savvy, one miss-statement, or photograph posted in error, has the propensity of doing the poster untold harm. Yes, you have got to be very careful with your use of social media. Investigators, spies, gossips, and characters of every type are snooping over your personal business posted on Facebook. A hack of your email is an embarrassing and dangerous thing, a hack of your Facebook account is an internet user’s worst nightmare, bringing embarrassment, scandal, and total loss of reputation!

On a more positive note, a school principal in the British Virgin Islands, sometime in the first half of April, 2012, made use of Facebook, in addition to more traditional type communication, such as radio, and probably word of mouth, to inform parents, staff, and children, of school resumption information after the Easter break. In addition, the educator was further able to share news of school meetings to be held imminently, the status of graduation, and important academic tidbits for various forms.

What was very interesting to this Facebooker, and Tweeter, was the transformative nature of her actions. This was, and no exaggeration intended, a major development in British Virgin Islands education management.

Today, politicians at home and abroad are finding social media an extremely convenient way of keeping in touch with voters and constituents, and increasingly, businesses, are using Facebook and Twitter to stay in touch with customers and clients.

Many years ago, email became a household computer application. Email was a digital idea of sending data, information, and messages, to other email users at a mouse click. Internet was a computer networking application that made the world to go around. At first email was simply an option, together with fax and regular post. And then increasingly, email took on the feature of the indomitable: it ultimately became omniscient and ubiquitous. It was everywhere, and yes, soon email became part of the fabric of daily life, no longer an option, but a critical necessity for modern existence.

Social media is following a similar trajectory. And what that British Virgin Islands principal further alluded to, albeit unknowingly, was the future of digital networking. The arrival of a social dynamic driven by the all powerful microchip, in which individuals and organizations, both public and private, will have to be part of, is already in existence this early 2012. And it is an avant garde, virtual world order, where every type of online activity can be accessed by relevant users and stakeholders, on one all powerful digital platform that maps all the online activity of its users on a single portal such as a user’s Facebook account.

In future, the most effective organizations, managers, employees, and businesspersons; also politicians, educators, writers, entertainers, and medical professionals; even law enforcement personnel, and investigators, and so on, will be those who adopt social media as a tool for greater efficiency, effectiveness, and networking capability.

The ability to access the Twitter or Facebook page of an organization for example, will open a world of opportunity and accessibility, simply unavailable from traditional digital type media such as a website, email application, or, traditional online news media.

Why? Because social media incorporates all of the various applications of these traditional type media into one single resource, or on to one platform and single portal; from email and messaging, to search and photo share, add birthday and anniversary notification, and the sharing of music and You tube downloads, news and commentary, research, and more. Yes, practically everything online is channeled on to one single social media platform: available as one single resource, on one single digitized page.

Sunny Thao, in a Star Tribune article of April 7, 2012, described how Matt Norman, President of Dale Carnegie, a global consultancy, ‘’ thinks Twitter in the global workplace can be a good thing.’’ That ‘’ social media can be used to build strong connections and inspire collaboration across teams.’’ Social media technology can ‘’ also be used to improve business results and gain market share, ’’ and should ‘’ be integrated into business strategies.’’

Norman asserted in an interview with Thao that ‘’ Twitter is a metaphor for how we need to communicate’’ helping users to be ‘’better communicators,’’ and to ‘’ focus attention on the main idea.’’

Norman described how social media is enabling good organizational management by ‘’ allowing leaders to better manage and connect with their teams.’’ He asserted further that a social media type dynamic enabled businesses to ‘’ achieve higher margins and greater market share. To be successful ‘’ you have to be able to connect with others. Tools like social media help companies become more collaborative which builds relationships.’’

Companies that fail to adapt to a new social media environment will get left behind. Why? Because social media ‘’ lets you express yourself in unique ways, and it can be better than your traditional email or speech. You can humanize complex messages by incorporating You Tube videos or Twitter. This is a more visual, personable, way to communicate, which makes people more engaged in information, and understand different communication styles.’’

Social media is a ‘’ tool for collaboration, builds connections, and brings people together.’’

Integrating social media into the modern organization is a requisite for any senior manager or policy maker in tune with the times. This will mean allowing workers to work from remote locations and their homes, saving businesses and government bureaucracies millions of dollars in overheads.

Social media collaboration will allow organizations act much more fluidly and organically. Social media savvy managers will be able to assert their views and even decisions much more effectively, and having to be on the spot to ensure effective operations and strategy becomes a thing of the past.

Facebooking the organizational environment does not mean using the facebook product. But it will mean creating facebook and Twitter type computer applications that are custom made for a specific corporate environment, whether public and governmental, or private and commercial. Facebook is already pursuing this possibility of providing a Facebook operating system, FOS, that can be used privately by organizations.

The social media organization also entails ensuring that all employees are comfortable with working in a new digital environment that requires the worker, officer, and manager, and so on, a greater degree of savvy in the use of new computer software and hardware networking tools that allow for greater flexibility in the workplace.

Engineering a new and custom made social media type environment for a specific establishment or organization is the way ahead for business and government. An organizationally friendly social media product with all of the features of say, Facebook, and even Twitter, but with enhanced privacy and firewall features, even a system that works on a local area network, and that maps every activity within the workplace onto a single digitized platform but linked to the world wide web is going to increasingly become a new modus Vivendi for the 21st Century organization.