Discussion on:

Five ways that social media can benefit IT

Scott starts by saying he's going to focus on IT as a consumer of social media. That got my attention, as I've been looking for information about this. Unfortunately, four of his five points involve creating content in one way or another.

Problem solving, building a peer network - "Once youve gained the right following ..." You're not going to do that by lurking. That's difficult when you have nothing to say. Regardless of the size of my network, how does one state a problem within the 140-character limit? How do you supply the details?

Reaching out to users, problem notification - Pure content creation, although the second could be automated. How does using social media for these improve over using e-mail?

If the article is going to focus on Twitter, then say so in the title instead of the more generic 'social media'.

The only point that relies solely on consumption is the first. I'd love more information on how to use Twitter effectively as a source of information. My biggest problem remains with the 'signal to noise' ratio Scott acknowledges. Jason Hiner has regularly posted lists of people he thinks are worthy of attention. These movers and shakers may be of value to people whose jobs rely on keeping a finger on the industry pulse. I'd like more info on how to access groups (a feature I was unaware of) and users more concerned with where the electrons meet the end user.

I just loved the: "I follow people from across the spectrum and spend a lot of time each day reading their thoughts and shared links and find a lot of knowledge and a lot of humor in the posts."

Now his boss knows what he REALLY gets up to in a day... laughing at stupid jokes and checking out who ate what sandwich at lunchtime.