As more and more companies are considering a presence in social media, even more of them are asking for guidance for themselves and their employees.
Although the document below uses the word policy (because that’s what some companies call it), I’m not a fan. (It may be semantics, but start throwing words like that around and you’re already shooting your trust quotient with your team in the foot.) I much prefer “guidelines” or “guideposts”. It’s more about steering than control.
But there are several helpful things that you can put down on paper that will help you, your team, and your bosses feel more comfortable with team members communicating in social media. I spent a little time a few months back compiling a PDF of several publicly published communication guidelines from prominent companies like Yahoo, Harvard, Dell, Cisco, and Sun Microsystems. Download it here and save yourself the trouble of searching for them.
Many of these are labeled as “blogging guidelines”, but I think many of the elements in here apply to all types of communication and representation online. You’ll have to refine them for your own business, but in general, here are the points for discussion:
Transparency and Disclosure: Emphasizing that your employees must always be open, honest, and clear about who they are. If they’re representing your company when they’re speaking, they should say so. If they’re not, they should make it clear that their communication is their own and not the company’s. A simple disclaimer example: “My name is X and I work for Y. The opinions I’m expressing here are my own.”
Who owns what content: If it’s an employee’s personal blog, it’s not corporate communication and legally it belongs to them. That also means they’re responsible for what’s posted there. If it’s your company blog, be sure you’re clear about content ownership from a business perspective.
Confidential Information: You may think it goes without saying, but articulating that disclosing confidential company information isn’t permitted is a good thing. In fact, most employee handbooks cover this issue, so you can consider referencing that by participating in social media on behalf of the company or individually, they’re agreeing to abide by that.
Copyrights: Another not-so-common sense thing, but remind folks that posting copyrighted material is just plain dumb.
Company time: Important to set forth your expectations about whether or not your team members can participate in social media during business hours. And remember, you’ll have a hard time saying “yes, but…”. You’re going to have to say “yes, and we’ll trust you to use good judgment”.
Consequences for acting stupid: What happens if an employee does something that negatively impacts the company? Good to outline the possibilities for all to see, including everything from a “good talking to” leading up to termination under particular circumstances.
Handling media requests: If folks are out there speaking on your behalf, or even if it becomes known through their personal activities that they’re with your company, media requests are a real possibility. Give guidance about how to handle/direct those to appropriate people in the company, or provide training and guidance for those that will be expected to respond.
Also included in the PDF is information from the hard working folks over at the Blog Council on their disclosure best practices, which you can find in their toolkit right here. Also, check out WOMMA’s ethics code, to which many well-respected brands adhere.
Truth is, lots of this stuff is common sense, but it bears repeating and documenting, if only to give your execs some peace of mind. You’ll note that some of them are brutally simple, which is the way it should be, in my view.
Do you have other elements of communication and participation guidelines that could be helpful to others? Share in the comments?
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Amber,
Two things that ring importance in your post.
1) Transparency – I am going to expand on this and passionately say NO to those wanting “flogs” (fake blogs) or “astroturfing” (fake grassroots PR campaign) thinking it may give them a viral edge.
2) Documentation – Great for accountability and foundation for the dreaded disgruntle run-away employee. If its in the employee handbook, and its violated, then the employee burns their own bridge. And we always like when people do that for themselves 😉
Amber,
Two things that ring importance in your post.
1) Transparency – I am going to expand on this and passionately say NO to those wanting “flogs” (fake blogs) or “astroturfing” (fake grassroots PR campaign) thinking it may give them a viral edge.
2) Documentation – Great for accountability and foundation for the dreaded disgruntle run-away employee. If its in the employee handbook, and its violated, then the employee burns their own bridge. And we always like when people do that for themselves 😉
Amber,
I’m really glad to see this conversation showing up in more places. As an Intel employee I was pleasantly surprised by the Intel Social Media Guidelines document http://www.intel.com/sites/sitewide/en_US/social-media.htm that was publicly posted a few weeks back. It was really refreshing to see that Intel management actually has some understanding of the power and value of social media and was willing to provide a reasonable framework for employees that blog or otherwise participate in social media.
Amber,
I’m really glad to see this conversation showing up in more places. As an Intel employee I was pleasantly surprised by the Intel Social Media Guidelines document http://www.intel.com/sites/sitewide/en_US/social-media.htm that was publicly posted a few weeks back. It was really refreshing to see that Intel management actually has some understanding of the power and value of social media and was willing to provide a reasonable framework for employees that blog or otherwise participate in social media.
Thank you for providing the tabulated PDF of Social Media Guidelines. I have been looking to make one myself but just kept delaying it everyday. Thanks for the effort 🙂
By the way, have you looked at how the IBM guideline is worded? Looks so much like a statutory warning which would make newbies hesitant! Special mention to “Don’t forget your day job”… lol
Asfaq Tapias last blog post..How to approach a journalist
Thank you for providing the tabulated PDF of Social Media Guidelines. I have been looking to make one myself but just kept delaying it everyday. Thanks for the effort 🙂
By the way, have you looked at how the IBM guideline is worded? Looks so much like a statutory warning which would make newbies hesitant! Special mention to “Don’t forget your day job”… lol
Asfaq Tapias last blog post..How to approach a journalist
Amber –
Hugely helpful and very timely for a current project. I’ve also been doing research and starting to compile a list of examples (currently housed at http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=d3kp9ww_32tp6r78fj&hl=en). I’ll probably do a summary post as well once I’m done with my research at this phase (employee policy) but I’m also working on a policy for direct representation which we’ll be implementing for a client later in the year and which I hope to do a case study on. I think overt representation (an evolution of brand ambassadorship but with an agenda) brings up a whole other bevvy of issues beyond just employee behavior.
Thanks so much for this info and link. Really appreciate it. Do you know any organization that is trying to really get on top of this issue in a best practices kind of way? I would think BlogCouncil might, but found their guidelines kind of LCD.
Dana
Dana Theuss last blog post..My Plea for 2009: Share It
Amber –
Hugely helpful and very timely for a current project. I’ve also been doing research and starting to compile a list of examples (currently housed at http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=d3kp9ww_32tp6r78fj&hl=en). I’ll probably do a summary post as well once I’m done with my research at this phase (employee policy) but I’m also working on a policy for direct representation which we’ll be implementing for a client later in the year and which I hope to do a case study on. I think overt representation (an evolution of brand ambassadorship but with an agenda) brings up a whole other bevvy of issues beyond just employee behavior.
Thanks so much for this info and link. Really appreciate it. Do you know any organization that is trying to really get on top of this issue in a best practices kind of way? I would think BlogCouncil might, but found their guidelines kind of LCD.
Dana
Dana Theuss last blog post..My Plea for 2009: Share It
Thanks for this. It’s a nice snapshot overview of how the corporates handle these and even have something to work off of, even if you deviate massively.
Thanks for this. It’s a nice snapshot overview of how the corporates handle these and even have something to work off of, even if you deviate massively.
Amber,
Thanks for this post… yes it is true that companies are treading lightly to test the waters of social media. The openness and transparency of social media means much will start to change in terms of company policy.
I like your site – some awesome content.
Kevin
Kevin Boons last blog post..The Meditation Project – Part 1 – An Introduction
Amber,
Thanks for this post… yes it is true that companies are treading lightly to test the waters of social media. The openness and transparency of social media means much will start to change in terms of company policy.
I like your site – some awesome content.
Kevin
Kevin Boons last blog post..The Meditation Project – Part 1 – An Introduction
Good post with good points. Some of these seem so simple but people trip over these issues all the time.
Thanks for the reminder
Donna
Donna Jacksons last blog post..Swiss start up camp with Amazee
Good post with good points. Some of these seem so simple but people trip over these issues all the time.
Thanks for the reminder
Donna
Donna Jacksons last blog post..Swiss start up camp with Amazee
@Dana Both Blog Council and WOMMA are doing good work in this arena. In my view, the best practices are really illustrated with some of the companies whose policies are published. If it works for Dell, Intel, Sun…I have to believe it can work for other companies in adaptive form. Especially because in their cases (and in the case of the Blog Council stuff), they’ve likely been vetted by F500 lawyers. 🙂
One thing I’d add… don’t be stupid, but also don’t check your personality at the door. We can’t forget that bloggers and their readers are real people, with real feelings and interests. It’s ok, and a lot more interesting, to show some life. All corporate speak all the time gets dry. The corporate blogs we’ve done are most successful when we put personality behind them, not just a company brand.
One thing I’d add… don’t be stupid, but also don’t check your personality at the door. We can’t forget that bloggers and their readers are real people, with real feelings and interests. It’s ok, and a lot more interesting, to show some life. All corporate speak all the time gets dry. The corporate blogs we’ve done are most successful when we put personality behind them, not just a company brand.
Amber:
Well said. I’d suspect that despite what would appear to be the common sense of having these guidelines, those that do are in the minority at the moment. In my case a previous employer, a large public company, adopted a social media strategy to promote adoption of the products I used to manage. Despite being a process/policy-heavy company, nothing exists to provide these type of guidelines. Given the ad-hoc, community nature of social media, I believe adopting a strategy to leverage it w/o some form of governance is an accident waiting to happen :).
Mike Geros last blog post..Where to Draw the Line in the SAN?
Amber:
Well said. I’d suspect that despite what would appear to be the common sense of having these guidelines, those that do are in the minority at the moment. In my case a previous employer, a large public company, adopted a social media strategy to promote adoption of the products I used to manage. Despite being a process/policy-heavy company, nothing exists to provide these type of guidelines. Given the ad-hoc, community nature of social media, I believe adopting a strategy to leverage it w/o some form of governance is an accident waiting to happen :).
Mike Geros last blog post..Where to Draw the Line in the SAN?
People may prefer to use of the word guidelines over policy but in a business sense they mean different things. You are right, in this instance “guidelines” should guide people rather than tell them what to do and in social media this is definitely they way to go.
Policies are a different beats and designed to remove people using their own judgement. They are non-negotiable and usually set by the board or senior managers
For example, a policy of “No drinking at work” is pretty black and white compared to guideline about drinking at work.
Daniel Oystons last blog post..Should a Blogger Contribute or Create?
People may prefer to use of the word guidelines over policy but in a business sense they mean different things. You are right, in this instance “guidelines” should guide people rather than tell them what to do and in social media this is definitely they way to go.
Policies are a different beats and designed to remove people using their own judgement. They are non-negotiable and usually set by the board or senior managers
For example, a policy of “No drinking at work” is pretty black and white compared to guideline about drinking at work.
Daniel Oystons last blog post..Should a Blogger Contribute or Create?
I’m going to have to chime in and piggyback on what Daniel is saying:
Guidelines are a good word to use when giving guidance. As many of the rules pertaining to social media are not clean and simple, and require discretion, guidelines is an appropriate term.
Example: I twitter for my company, and we have a guideline saying about 70% of our tweets should be work-related. If we stuck to that to the letter, we’d all be robots.
BUT – guidelines aren’t for everything. As Mr. Oyston mentioned, “rules” without leeway should be called what they are – policies and/or standards. Similar to his drinking example, corporate copyright “guidelines” open up an organization to a lot of risk, if they are leaving content authors with too much discretion.
Simply, here is the difference:
Guidelines allow discretion, and should be used to guide the arena of decisions one makes when interacting with social media.
Policies and standards are the rules and laws of engagement, and should not allow for discretion. They create the walls of the aforementioned arena.
I’m going to sound a lot older than I am by saying this, but no matter how “unfriendly” or “unprogressive” the words ‘policy’ and ‘standard’ might sound, the risk is simply too great. Particularly when you are looking at issues with MAJOR legal ramifications: copyrights, linking, security, privacy, accessibility, content for minors, etc…
Sarah Kitlowskis last blog post..It’s Time to Manage the Web
I’m going to have to chime in and piggyback on what Daniel is saying:
Guidelines are a good word to use when giving guidance. As many of the rules pertaining to social media are not clean and simple, and require discretion, guidelines is an appropriate term.
Example: I twitter for my company, and we have a guideline saying about 70% of our tweets should be work-related. If we stuck to that to the letter, we’d all be robots.
BUT – guidelines aren’t for everything. As Mr. Oyston mentioned, “rules” without leeway should be called what they are – policies and/or standards. Similar to his drinking example, corporate copyright “guidelines” open up an organization to a lot of risk, if they are leaving content authors with too much discretion.
Simply, here is the difference:
Guidelines allow discretion, and should be used to guide the arena of decisions one makes when interacting with social media.
Policies and standards are the rules and laws of engagement, and should not allow for discretion. They create the walls of the aforementioned arena.
I’m going to sound a lot older than I am by saying this, but no matter how “unfriendly” or “unprogressive” the words ‘policy’ and ‘standard’ might sound, the risk is simply too great. Particularly when you are looking at issues with MAJOR legal ramifications: copyrights, linking, security, privacy, accessibility, content for minors, etc…
Sarah Kitlowskis last blog post..It’s Time to Manage the Web
@Sarah, you and Daniel make very good points and distinctions between what should be “policy” and what should be “guidelines”. Perhaps, in a social media context, the two need to work hand in hand.
Great timing–I’m presenting at a meeting in two days on this as we bring together people in our organization who are exploring on their own, some doing it officially, and try to map out what’s happening & where we’re going.
I’d add one really basic item that I’ll be talking about: Is anyone keeping a LIST somewhere of the various accounts that are truly official ones, complete with log-in names and passwords, and do you have multiple owners just in case?
If your corporate blogger were hit by a bus tomorrow (or got fired, got mad, and trashed the blog), would you have access to update the blog? Facebook page? Twitter account?
On the issue of transparency, @dannybrown and I had an exchange about this on Twitter a couple of days ago, and how you accomplish it in 140 characters if you tweet about something for which you’re paid. He was discussing it from the agency perspective, I from the institutional employee perspective.
I manage the account for my campus, and my Twitter name is in the campus bio so people know who manages it. In my personal bio I also list my mgmt responsibility for that account.
If I RT something from the campus account to mine, I don’t include anything saying I work there–just isn’t space, and the info is clearly available. 9I don’t RT much–only items I think may be of interest to followers on my personal account.)
Does this seem okay? No intent to deceive, which I think is the key to transparency. How are others handling this?
@BarbChamberlain
Barb Chamberlains last blog post..For Someone Who’s Supposed to Be So Smart… Ways in Which I’m Stupid
Great timing–I’m presenting at a meeting in two days on this as we bring together people in our organization who are exploring on their own, some doing it officially, and try to map out what’s happening & where we’re going.
I’d add one really basic item that I’ll be talking about: Is anyone keeping a LIST somewhere of the various accounts that are truly official ones, complete with log-in names and passwords, and do you have multiple owners just in case?
If your corporate blogger were hit by a bus tomorrow (or got fired, got mad, and trashed the blog), would you have access to update the blog? Facebook page? Twitter account?
On the issue of transparency, @dannybrown and I had an exchange about this on Twitter a couple of days ago, and how you accomplish it in 140 characters if you tweet about something for which you’re paid. He was discussing it from the agency perspective, I from the institutional employee perspective.
I manage the account for my campus, and my Twitter name is in the campus bio so people know who manages it. In my personal bio I also list my mgmt responsibility for that account.
If I RT something from the campus account to mine, I don’t include anything saying I work there–just isn’t space, and the info is clearly available. 9I don’t RT much–only items I think may be of interest to followers on my personal account.)
Does this seem okay? No intent to deceive, which I think is the key to transparency. How are others handling this?
@BarbChamberlain
Barb Chamberlains last blog post..For Someone Who’s Supposed to Be So Smart… Ways in Which I’m Stupid
I have written an article in which I reference some of the material in this blog. WebCPA, the publication interested in the article, won’t publish it without your permission. The easiest thing would be for me to email you the article, let you read it, and send me a written approval. Can you please send me an email so I can forward it to you?
Thank you,
Kristin
I have written an article in which I reference some of the material in this blog. WebCPA, the publication interested in the article, won’t publish it without your permission. The easiest thing would be for me to email you the article, let you read it, and send me a written approval. Can you please send me an email so I can forward it to you?
Thank you,
Kristin
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