Comments on: Employees Using Social Media Can Give Companies a Nasty Virus

By: Kat

Kat — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:07:34 +0000

I think the common sense approach is great – often people just need to be made aware of the possible implications. I have seen some interesting policies drawn up – the Us Airforce one being largely defensive but pretty well laid out: http://www.webinknow.com/2008/12/the-us-air-force-armed-with-social-media.html

By: davidmullen

davidmullen — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:27:18 +0000

@Tania – thanks for sharing!

@ryan – just to be clear, I wouldn’t advocate that company’s ban social media sites. What I think is important is to have some guardrails on the road to remind employees that what they say online is important and can have consequences for the company.

By: Ryan Shell

Ryan Shell — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:08:15 +0000

This is a topic that makes me crazy. Sometimes I think companies define “guidelines” as, “you will be banned from social media sites… and we may even block you from 95% of the blogs on the net.”

Ryan

By: Tania

Tania — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:17:03 +0000

Here’s intel’s social media guidelines:
http://www.intel.com/sites/sitewide/en_US/social-media.htm

By: Daniel Johnson, Jr.

Daniel Johnson, Jr. — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:11:57 +0000

Since I don’t have explicit permission from my company to talk about them in social media, I don’t. I use social media to build and enhance my personal brand, which does involve some general references to what I do for my company.

Very good advice here and in the comments.

Thank you, David.

By: PRJack

PRJack — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:49:36 +0000

Very good points David. Where things get particularly messy is when Personal and Professional sides of an individual’s lives clash. It makes me wonder far more seriously about having completely different identities (on facebook, twitter, etc) representing my Professional (public) and Personal (private) sides.

By: Heather Whaling

Heather Whaling — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:30:28 +0000

It’s such a sticky situation. When I heard the Zappos CEO speak about their approach to social media, he was so sure that the employees internalized the culture that they didn’t need formal rules and guidelines. He believed that people would know what is appropriate to say — and what’s not. However, I’d venture to guess that most companies don’t have that kind of comfort level with their employees.

I heard someone from GM’s social media team speak at a conference and I thought their approach was logical. Basically, if you wouldn’t discuss something offline with reporters or other stakeholders, don’t discuss it online. For example, if a company’s communication policy includes not discussing products in development — then that same standard should apply in social media as well.

At Costa DeVault (where I work), we don’t have a formal policy, but there are some generally understood guidelines that people follow on and offline. 1) Remember that what you say or do is a reflection on yourself and the company. 2) For the most part, discussing client work is off limits (with some exceptions). 3) If something is not supposed to be public knowledge, don’t talk about it in social media.

I’d love to see examples of internal policies that companies believe work well if anyone has them.

Heather (@prtini)

By: davidmullen

davidmullen — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:59:10 +0000

Thanks, Katie.

By: Katie Smith

Katie Smith — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 04:41:33 +0000

Great article! Thanks for writing!