With the rapid growth of social media, companies and employees everywhere are trying to figure out how to respond. Let’s tackle some of the basics of how employees can avoid getting themselves into trouble in the gray areas.
1) Representing your company, and representing yourself. Is it ok to blog about your company? Can you be “yourself” on the web without worry?
Blogging4jobs posted an article not long ago called “HR is the New PR”. While it’s a catchy title and I agree that HR has an important link to PR especially through Employment Brand work, it’s really important for everyone to know that the old rules of PR still apply. No one is PR except PR. If you have permission to speak on behalf of your company, great! But for the vast majority who are not authorized representatives, you shouldn’t speak for your company. Always speak from your own point of view, and be aware that what you say will reflect on how people view your company, even if you separate yourself it.
So, if you are representing yourself, can you say whatever you want without judgement? This is where personal branding comes in. Just like companies choose carefully how to represent themselves, so should you. You can’t separate yourself from things you have said online. Even things said anonymously have come back to haunt people later.
Think of it this way – what if Clark Kent wrote a blog criticizing superheros as a bunch of ego-centric thrill seekers? Sure, he can hide behind the fact that’s he’s just Clark Kent speaking, but when people start to figure out he’s Superman, those comments will be attributed to him. There goes his network in the superhero community. A real-life example: you send a message via Twitter to a recruiter – they click on your profile to see if you’ve got a resume available, and there are all of your recent tweets. Hopefully you have tweeted professionally, because you’ve now formed an impression.
2) Having boundaries between your work life and your personal life. Should you and your manager be friends on Facebook? Will your blog posts and tweets be used to judge you?
As well-explained in Business Insider’s article “Facebook Friending Your Employees Is A Great Way To Get Sued” there are risks to blending your work and personal life online. Consider how you want to use the various social media avenues, and know your audience. One approach to consider is to use different sites for different parts of your life — i.e. Facebook for friends only, LinkedIn for work connections. Twitter is your call, but if you are tweeting as a professional, keep that in mind when you post. One Twitter post that stunned me was someone who said she was upset with herself for all of the poor choices she had made. The internet is not your BFF and you don’t need to announce everything. It’s healthy to have boundaries, and it can keep you out of trouble.
3) Knowing your company’s stance. If you can run a quick errand at lunch, can you do the same thing virtually and do some online shopping? Can you read articles during the work day? Can you tweet? Consider this – were the Delta pilots ok in using their laptops, since they were talking about work and a work-related scheduling topic?
It depends. Know your company’s policies and your manager’s viewpoint. Many companies have “incidental use” policies, which means that some limited, appropriate internet use is ok. Work-related research, a quick check of the weather and the stock, and checking the hours of the dry cleaners — things that are either clearly work related or that take only a few minutes from your workday. Other employers may be more open to letting you spend time online, including running over to the virtual mall. Many of the really prolific twitter users are in jobs that allow them to tweet at work. When in doubt, have the conversation. A common area that people misunderstand is assuming something is ok because it’s work-related. The pilots using their laptops were not allowed to do that, whether work-related or not.
Consider how you want to use the various social media avenues, and know your audience. And watch what you say — always keep in mind that people may figure out you are really Superman.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
This is some really great practical advice on working with social media and working for a company at the same time. I enjoyed reading and shared it on Twitter as well.
Thanks for inviting to connect with you on LinkedIn. It is always great to hear from another MSU grad!
Michael
http://www.careertrailguide.com to GoogleReader!
SuperSonic
The author of http://www.careertrailguide.com has written an excellent article. You have made your point and there is not much to argue about. It is like the following universal truth that you can not argue with: You can learn a lot from your dog on the internet Thanks for the info.