(Social) networking is coming — Are we ready?

Social networking and media have become a part of everyday life. The phenomenon itself reflects people's need people to be connected, to share, to be members of communities, and to collaborate. Current social media support social interaction and use scalable web-based technologies to implement interactive dialogues. The key role is played by Internet-based applications that provide access to the services needed. Although modern social media are strongly connected to Internet-based networking and virtual societies, the same networks have always operated on the physical level — it is only the tools, platforms, and communication channels that have changed. When analyzing the users' scope of social networking, one important conclusion is easy to draw: the modern social communities operate in private life, whereas traditional networking is related to business. Undoubtedly the direction of adaption of new behavior in this case is from private life to business and working life. People that find the private life tools and methods competitive in their working life, simply adopt the tools in their work. The adaption speed is also accelerated by recruiting members of younger generation to responsible positions in organizations. The aim of our paper is to open up discussion on the use of new media and social networking in business. The paper includes a framework characterizing the differences between generations and the characteristics of modern enterprise. The behavioral patterns of the different generations are built up by viewpoints derived from public statistics and by questionnaires targeted at upper management. The purpose of the analysis is to find the best fit between enterprise culture and the behavioral patterns of the generations.