Staff Twitterpated by Social Media? Here’s a thought…

“About a year ago, Kris Gallagher looked around at the exploding popularity of social networks like Facebook and Twitter and saw a trend growing among nonprofit organizations that used the sites. As more people jumped on the speeding bandwagon, friending and tweeting on behalf of their charities, they made mistakes, sometimes bringing uncomfortable exposure to themselves or their employers.”

To Begin

In this class we have looked at social media and the consequences, good or bad, that people experience when they comment about their jobs or employers online. While it is largely an unmanageable resource because of our rights to free speech, it is not a bad idea for companies to state how they think staff should represent themselves online in reference to the company.

Acknowledge & Understand.

Company presence in social media has become quite popular with the social media boom. Creating and implementing a policy or at least company sanctioned guidelines is recommended by leaders in the nonprofit community, and seems applicable to many other industries as well. While it is worth the effort to create guidelines or policies you cannot expect to silence employees in regards to their employment when they are not on the clock. Think of it as managing gossip – it is virtually impossible to prevent but it is best to have a company opinion in place.

Be kind, Rewind.

Asking bloggers to mind their manners is an acceptable approach. It is another person somewhere on the other end accepting your words, and it is best to approach with some amount of consideration to the others. If you are going to reference yourself to your company, it is best put your profession hat back on and think about what you say before you say it. It is ok to have an opinion and voice it, but it is not ok to attack others and belittle their opinions or work when your profession hat is perched before your speech.

Remember the Titans.

Another issue to think of is disclosure. Should users in your company be required to disclose who they are in relation to the company if they are going to discuss company matters online? Doing so adds an element of personal responsibility as mentioned above, and may encourage a second look before posting anything. It is important to remember who you are and what you represent.

Constant vigilance!

Social media, like the internet, is ever evolving. Creating a policy or guidelines today is fabulous, but it may not address new issues that arise tomorrow. Keeping a constant improvement committee on task will help to address new dilemmas with social media as the happen. While company leaders should certainly be involved, you may want to also have members on the committee that use the social media networks constantly – at work or at home. This way you have someone who is very familiar with the sites, their functions and drawbacks to keep policies relevant.

In Conclusion

So it seems safe to say that companies need to lay some ground rules for their employees regarding social media use in relation to the company; give us an idea of what is acceptable, or not, so we can safeguard our jobs. Also, we are humans who all express ourselves differently, so give us a break. On the other side it only makes sense that outside of any guidelines given some common sense is needed on behalf of the employee. For goodness sakes, would you go to a bar where your bosses are, wear your uniform or name tag, sip a few drinks and proceed to trash talk the company or in any way wildly misrepresent them while munching on your nachos? Of course not. So why throw that common sense out the window and exhibit similar behaviors online and expect no consequences?

References
Joslyn, Heather (2010). Social-Media Policies Can Help Charity Workers Navigate a New World. Chronicle of Philanthropy 22.5 Retrieved February 17, 2011 from EBSCOhost. Regis U. Library, Denver. Academic Onefile Database http://tinyurl.com/4s49j9f