As a project manager, keeping everyone on the same page can be a challenge, particularly when the team members are working remotely from around the country or globe. Email and voice conferencing are some of the more common ways that project managers let people collaborate from around the world, but the advent of social media provides another means for people to work together. Whether you need to share links and ideas or talk over video, you can find a social network that helps you manage your project team and monitor progress.
Facebook Groups
A Facebook group set to the “Secret” privacy level is good place to share images, project updates, events, and documents. Group members must create a free personal account on the site, but thankfully Facebook is user friendly enough that even those team members who lack social media savvy can quickly get the hang of it. Users can create or upload a document up to 25MB in size into the group page, and the entire team will be able to view it immediately. The group wall lets project members add feedback to documents, and they can also download the document to their own computers and make changes. Facebook groups also give the project manager the chance to take a poll of the team members.
Google Hangouts
Sometimes talking face to face is the best way to go over project updates and keep your team abreast of everyone’s progress or challenges, and a Google Hangout offers just this chance. In order to take part in a Google Hangout, your project members will need a free Google Plus account, which is particularly easy to sign up for if you already have a Gmail account. A Google Hangout can connect up to 25 people at the same time, as long as each project member has a working webcam and microphone. With Google Hangout, you can collaborate in real time, instead of sending project members a message and then waiting for a response.
Twitter
Creating a Twitter hashtag is yet another way to keep your project team connected. Use this social media platform to share updates and success with your project by always adding your unique hashtag to the end of your tweets. Keep in mind that your tweets will be public, so don’t share proprietary or private details on this platform. Instead, use Twitter to encourage each other or seek out solutions to roadblocks from other group members. You can also share pictures and videos on Twitter if you want to show progress to the team.
Social media is a free way to keep project collaboration strong, and in this day and age most of your project members will probably have accounts on social networking sites already. While project members may not have full access to email accounts or cloud services when they’re not on the company server, they will always be able to log into a social media account so long as they have an Internet connection. Social media collaboration gives you the chance to stay in touch across great distances on a universal platform.