When will we learn? Enterprises are getting social.

Access to social media at work continues to be a hot topic. A recent article – like many others – underscores the challenges and victories that can come from blurring the lines between personal and business.

“It’s the dumbest policy in the world to block your employees from going to social media sites,” said Mark Ragan, a Chicago-based corporate communications specialist. “You get Gen Y entering the workforce, and those people live on Facebook. … They’ll laugh at you.”

Does this bring back memories from the 90’s when the Internet started penetrating businesses? How long did companies resist? What about email? How long was your organization able to resist that movement? Then came instant messaging, then text messages and now social media. History is repeating itself all over again and the companies that get social first will separate themselves from the pack, both in the eyes of consumers and in the resulting profits.

As I pointed out in my previous blog post, “10 reasons you should use social networks for business,” an Accenture survey of Millennial preferences found that recent grads prefer to communicate via instant messaging, text messaging, Facebook and RSS feeds. One Millennial MBA said, “I need to access my Facebook in order to do my job.” Shut down access to social networks, and you may shut down access to top employees.

“I think there’s a greater risk not to” give employees access, said Mary Henige, director of social media and digital communications for General Motors. “If you want to be an employer of choice, especially with younger people, they’re going to completely expect to do this.”

The connection coefficient remains in full effect. The more connected employees are (to other employees, partners, customers, prospects, etc) the more value the employees and therefore the enterprise will experience. This applies in all areas of business – recruiting, marketing, and even sales. In fact, a July 2009 study by the Altimeter group found that brands deeply engaged in social had an “18% increase in revenues over the last 12 months, compared to the least engaged companies who on average saw a decline of 6% in revenue during the same period.”

“One of the things they’ve talked about is how e-mail was looked at 10 years ago — as risky — and now it’s accepted so much as a business tool,” said Kristen Cislo, branch manager for information technology staffing company Robert Half Technology. “Are we going through the same thing with social networking?”

In short, lines are blurring between business and personal use of social networks so companies that want to keep increasing sales, attract the top talent and meet customer expectations shouldn’t shut down these activities. Instead create your policies, be upfront with your workforce and customers, and automate your policies so everyone wins.