Social media

2010-07-27 – Update – added latest additions to Social Media Policy after annual in-house review.

2010-03-05 – Update – added results from a policy generator

2010-02-27 – Update – added US Military media policy

2010-02-03 – Update – added Coca-Cola media policy

2010-07-01 – Update – added Ohio State University Medical Center social media participation policy

For updates, see the bottom of this post.

Here we spell out our policies, including copyright, disclosure, privacy, social media (you are here), and terms and conditions.

The above guidelines apply when using CASEScontact.org, CyTRAP Labs, ComMetrics webpages and web-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or On-Demand hosted delivery of My.ComMetrics.com services.

“This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control, T minus 1 hour, 30 minutes and counting…”

Our social media policy was launched a while back and for us it was a big event. If you participate in social media such as creating or contributing to blogs, wikis, social networks, virtual worlds, or any other kind of social media both on and off ComMetrics.com — these guidelines are for you.

All people working as employees or contractors of ComMetrics or CyTRAP Labs GmbH are to understand and follow these guidelines. Failure to do so could put your future participation at risk.

These guidelines will continually evolve as new technologies and social networking tools emerge.

Also remember to follow all applicable CyTRAP Labs GmbH policies. For example, do not share confidential or proprietary information about the company and maintain client privacy.

Among the policies most pertinent to this discussion are those concerning copyright, disclosure, privacy and terms and conditions.

The following are eight golden rules for using social media (we started with five but made some necessary additions over time):

1. Do to others as you would have done to you

This means always be nice, truthful and respect the other individual. Never embarrass or make fun of others online.

2. Once you post it, you can’t take it back

Besides avoiding foul language, remember that a party image posted online from your friend’s mobile phone might haunt you in the future, whether you are applying for a job or getting married.

Also ensure that the source you link to (e.g., a research report) can withstand regulatory scrutiny (e.g., possible conflicts of interest are disclosed – see FDA regulations) and will not damage your reputation (e.g., badly disguised sales pitch, low-quality white paper).

3. Never reveal too much information

This can do damage in any number of ways, including violating company-client privilege, opening your organization to sanctions, voiding patent rights, revealing trade secrets, or violating copyright.

Email, instant messaging, Twitter, Facebook, voicemails, as well as the entire contents of your private PC, smartphone or iPad if used for any work-related reason are fully discoverable and the first place lawyers look when building a case.

Lastly, it is just as easy to ’spill the beans’ in a social setting as it is online. Be careful and you will be fine.

4. Remember that cyberspace links your professional and private lives

Friends and clients will not only find your corporate blog posts, but your private Facebook page and personal Twitter account, and draw their own conclusions. Be cautious before putting anything ‘out there’.

5. Engage honestly and truthfully

Interact and connect with clients. If you cannot help someone directly regarding any of your services, products and so forth, send them to the appropriate department, person or social media channel.

Follow up personally or make sure a colleague does so within 24 hours. In today’s virtual world time is of the essence and your public holiday or weekend may be a client’s normal workday!

6. Verify your privacy and security settings

How much data you reveal – such as email or phone number – should be set in your security options or privacy settings (e.g., what information is visible to anyone).

Before you post any images or videos online (e.g., holiday snapshots on Facebook), get explicit permission from anyone included, so as not to violate any personal rights and/or privacy regulation(s).

Be careful which links you visit and make sure any materials you download are scanned by your computer’s security software.

7. Watch the clock when using social networks

Visiting your personal Facebook page takes time away from getting tasks done for which you get paid; accordingly, use your time wisely while at work and make your social media engagement beneficial to the company. Please do not let such usage interfere with maintaining your high performance.

8. Lead from above

As a boss, team leader or manager, you should lead by example. If you are an infrequent and/or sloppy social media user, your bad habits may spread to your colleagues and/or subordinates.

To reduce the risk to yourself, your team and the company, set a good example and review social media use with your team – the good, the bad and the ugly – to learn from mistakes and successes.

This policy is in addition to other existing policies (thanks to James Wong for making this point).

We wish you all the best success with engaging in social and private networks. May it advance your career and in turn assist us in our efforts to provide clients with more value.

In this case as in all, we feel that the best way to deal with effective use of social media in the workplace is by persuasion and example, NOT by removing liberty.

More resources about social media marketing and the c-suite:

Intel: Social Media Policy

IBM: Social Computing Guidelines

Enterprise Social Media Usage Policies and Guidelines: non-profit, foundations, governments and other examples

2010-02-03 – Update – Coca-Cola media policy – download 3-page pdf file – applies to ‘certified spokespeople’, but what about employees and their private Facebook account?

2010-02-27 – Update – US Military Social Media Policy (implemented 2010-02-26)

2010-07-01 – Update – Ohio State University Medical Center – SM Participation Policy (implemented 2009-12-18) outlines how it works for medical personnel, including HIPPA issues and so forth.

There are now online tools that help you develop a social media policy for ‘any’ company. For example, we entered information from our company and the tool generated this policy:

2010-03-05 – Update – Online tool generated this social media policy for ComMetrics (learn how to get yours in 3 minutes)

By the way: Get the straight-forward answers you need to use social media tools more effectively, while saving time and improving your social media tracking and brand monitoring. Benchmark to improve performance right now:

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