Recordkeeping practices have long been epitomized by a room filled with rows of file cabinets. Dimly-lit and overwhelming, the thousands of housed records are a testament to the tedium and organization such recordkeeping requires. Managing and storing records had changed little for decades, and such record-filled rooms were commonplace. However, there has been a paradigm shift in the management of records. Records no longer are created, used, and then archived solely as physical documents. Instead, with the advent of the digital age came a proliferation of documents that never existed outside of their digital form. And while some services refuse to change their recordkeeping strategies, be warned, that 21st century problems require modern solutions that will make the file cabinet obsolete.
Old tools for a new project
The initial reaction was to treat these digital records as physical ones, essentially, printing out each one and storing them in those familiar file cabinets. However, the sheer number of digital records created daily has made such a strategy an extremely time-consuming, resource-wasting, and backward approach to a novel development in business records. Instead, companies have aptly solved this new, digital records problem with a digital solution: the cloud. By securely storing digital records in the cloud, they do not have to be individually printed out, filed, and stored. Records are instead created and stored automatically, reducing the work and resource load significantly.
Social media archiving’s digital solution
Despite the obvious cost and time benefits of archiving digital records digitally, there remain some archiving services that refuse to step away from the printer. And, surprisingly, this is still occurring with social media records. A social media archiving service was recently announced that, upon investigation, managed social media records by printing out each interaction. However, social media is a dynamic, interactive, and instantaneous platform where hundreds of records can be created in an hour. Also, these records are largely new forms of interaction without precedent. Retweets, Likes, and Twitter mentions all represent new beasts in the records management world. As a result, using a printer for archiving social media records is like using a thimble to empty the sinking Titanic. It simply is the wrong tool for a growing problem.
Instead, archiving social media records using the cloud can respond to the quantity and diversity of social media records successfully. ArchiveSocial is a fully-compliant, social media archiving service that uses cloud-based technology to ensure that your records management strategy is the most cost and time-efficient possible. So, do away with the printer and file cabinets for social media records, and let us help you manage social media records with a truly 21st century solution.
