In December, the New York City Chapter’s Education Committee presented a workshop for members entitled “LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter: Social Media’s Emerging Impact on Corporate Real Estate.” Held at Hearst Tower, the workshop was led by Keith Perske, president of Group 5 Consulting and an expert on technology as it relates to workspace.

Perske has more than 25 years experience in corporate real estate and focuses on technology as a primary tool that companies can use to meet their business objectives. He began his presentation with an overview of the changing ways we connect with work and the workplace due to technological advances. While traditionally an office was necessary to access tools and to connect with co-workers, today we access these things from anywhere via digital networks and continually evolving communication methods.

Perske briefed the audience on some of the most popular social media tools including; Twitter, a micro-blog consisting of short messages up to 140 characters in length; LinkedIn, a business-oriented professional networking tool; Facebook and MySpace, free access social networking sites; video sharing website, YouTube; and photo-sharing website, Flickr.

“All of these networks are part of a big conversation. People want to know what other people are doing,” Perske says, “and companies are keeping a finger on the pulse of their customers. These are excellent tools for marketing, product delivery and customization.”

But how does social media fit into corporate real estate? “Right now social media is about the ‘social,’” Perske said, “but history shows that trends outside the workplace eventually move in. There’s an evolution happening that will transform these socially-based tools into business-based tools.”

Social media is expanding opportunities for “connection, community and collaboration” among employees and business people. IBM, for example, has used online virtual world, Second Life, to gather employees around the globe in online brainstorming sessions. For the CRE, social media can help keep teams updated of a project’s status or in the quick dissemination of breaking news.

Another example discussed included Hearst Corporation’s in-house café, which is overseen by the company’s real estate and facilities department. The café has seen tremendous success and growing popularity after launching a Twitter account that regularly updates employees on daily meal specials and offers interesting information about the chef. In this case, building buzz internally has served as a beneficial resource in Hearst’s employee retention and recruitment efforts.

While many companies have prohibited employee access to social networking sites for concerns such as brand integrity, intellectual property issues, and other reasons, some companies are finding that the benefits of social networking tools outweigh the risks. In addition many software suites are now linking Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other programs that can be used solely within a company firewall for more sensitive internal communications.

“It’s important for corporate real estate professionals to continue their education in social media, to evaluate what their peers are doing, and to assess their company’s readiness to design and implement a social media program,” Perske said.

“Humans are social animals. It’s important to stay connected and be a part of a community,” Perske added, “and this is the way to do this now—it’s part of the DNA of people entering the workforce.”