Every couple of weeks, someone will drop a draft of their company’s social media policy in front of me and ask what I think. In most cases, I am delighted that it’s a draft and not yet published. These policies are usually riddled with “do not” and “never” and “forbidden” language. It makes me want to launch a performance art project with actor John Lithgow doing dramatic readings of these clamp-down policies.
Now, John Lithgow has a great, resonate, voice-of-God kind of voice. But I choose him specifically because of his role in one of my favorite cheesy 80s movies, Footloose. As Reverend Shaw Moore (thanks, IMDB) he kept poor Kevin Bacon and his friends from dancing in their little rural town.
It didn’t work.
I don’t believe that the social media policies that focus on the forbidden work, either. They aren’t realistic and they give the impression that employees’ judgment is no better than your average first grader’s.
Sun Microsystems took a much saner and smarter route in the Sun Approach to Public Discourse. Here are a few headlines from the policy: Don’t Tell Secrets; Be Respectful; Be Interesting, But Be Honest.
Hill and Knowlton also has a straight-forward approach highlighted in this blog post that focuses on disclosure, ethical actions and other topics pertinent to an agency that conducts social media campaigns on behalf of its clients.
The common denominators in both policies are that they treat people like adults and they accept that employees are going to use the Internet in all sorts of official and unofficial ways. The policies don’t go all John Lithgow on them and try to put a stop to such nonsense; they give guidance toward doing it well, with integrity and in ways that won’t damage the company, the client or the employee.
And you’d be wise to give guidance to employees. In the Social Media/Networking Usage Trends Report prepared by Travelers, only 25 percent of respondents showed any concern that things that they post online could be damaging to them professionally. Forty-two percent said that they “never post anything that reflects poorly on my employer.” What are the other 58% up to?
I am sure that there are other examples of good social media policies out there, and I’d love to see additional examples. Know of any?
PS: I have no connection to Sun Microsystems (other than having met the delightful Deirdre Straughan who pointed me to their policy at a Communintelligence event), Hill & Knowlton, John Lithgow or Kevin Bacon. But if you can put me in touch with John about that project…
Barbara Govednik launched 423 Communication in 2001 to helps its clients tell their stories through freelance writing services, coaching and editing services, and employee communication consulting and implementation. Read Barbara’s Being Well Said Blog.
