Why most social media policies have little value

Social media policies are largely wishful thinking. They are there to make the lawyers happy, they exist to take cover behind should the proverbial ever hit the fan.

“Well, it wasn’t my fault, X is clearly in violation of our policy.”

They have as much real use as the disclaimers some companies make their employees stick at the end of email, meaning absolutely none.

Let me say this again: Nada, zilch, nothing, zero.

In this day and age people say what they feel like saying, and no policy on earth can stop them. If the Iranian government can’t stop students from twittering, do you really think that corporate guidelines can stop a disgruntled employee – or even worse, ex-employee – posting what he or she really thinks of you?

That particular horse has bolted a long time ago, all that policies do is trying to close the doors on an empty stable.

There’s only one rule that we insist on at our company: Don’t say anything in writing that you would not say to my face. And that’s all that’s needed, in my opinion.

The following was written as a response to this article over on the Sysomos blog. Posting comments there seems to make them disappear into thin air – nothing got posted – so I am publishing it here. Entertainingly enough, my inability to comment on the original article only strengthens the point I am making.

Sysomos suggests that every company needs a social media policy, a policy that they suggest can be anything from in-depth to succinct.

Allow me to respectfully disagree. Most, if not all, social media policies are little more than wishful thinking. They are there to make the lawyers happy and to deflect criticism, they exist to take cover behind should the proverbial ever hit the fan.

“Whatever happened wasn’t my fault, X is clearly in violation of our policy.”

Used like this they have as much real purpose as the disclaimers some company lawyers insist employees stick to the end of their emails; meaning absolutely none.

Let me say this again: Nada, zilch, nothing, zero.

In this day and age people say what they feel like saying, and no policy on earth can stop them. If the Iranian government can’t stop students from twittering, do you really think that corporate social media guidelines can stop a disgruntled employee – or even worse, ex-employee – posting what he or she really thinks of you?

That particular horse has bolted a long time ago, all that policies do is try to close the doors on an already empty stable.

Far more important than having a social media policy in place is having an empowering employees policy. Make your employees your biggest fans and you’ll never have to worry about negative or inappropriate publishing. As is so often the case, get to the heart of the matter, don’t just mask the symptoms.

http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com olivier blanchard

Good post. I’m glad you wrote it.

Like it or not, for companies to NOT have a social media policy in place is a liability. Plain and simple.

If anything, a policy is a document that clearly communicates guidelines of conduct to employees. It’s a reference: This is acceptable. That is not. The consequences could be X.

The policy doesn’t have to be written in the context of “if you say something bad about us on your blog or FaceBook, you will open yourself up to disciplinary action.” We aren’t children. (More on that in a sec.) A policy can also explain how a casual conversation about work or a competitor could turn into a huge black eye for the company as a whole. In other words, a social media policy can help employees understand how to become better internet denizens during their off-hours.

If a social media policy is written with the purpose of outlining not only corporate guidelines AND educating employees as well, it can become a very powerful tool. From an HR perspective, it can help avoid internal problems. From a PR perspective, same thing.

I would even argue that a policy document isn’t alone. You have to combine it with a modicum of awareness training in order for it to work its magic.

And while, yes, we know that if we call our boss a hack on Twitter or our company a “soul-sucking cubicle farm” on Facebook, we know that it will earn us a trip to the HR department, it doesn’t hurt to remind people of this in an official company document, and to also explain why.

If none of the above is enough to convince you, consider the potential impact of recent changes to FTC rules regarding disclosure and corporate responsibility. If anything, even if you remove “employee behavior” from the conversation, employees now HAVE to understand how not to put the companies they work for in a position to be fined (heftily) by the FTC.

A social media policy (or corporate social media guidelines) can at the very least help employees avoid legal and financial pitfalls dealing with disclosure and libel.

But you’re right: A policy that attempts to control employee use of social media, censor them outright or ban it in some way is a complete waste of everyone’s time.

Thanks for writing this. Cheers.
http://fisheyecorp.com Andreas

Thanks for the comments Olivier. I completely concur that companies need to have some sort of protection in place, a process to deal with the unexpected. Anything else would be foolish indeed.

But unfortunately most, if not all, social media policies I’ve seen so far were little more than threats. Do this and you’ll face the consequences. Much scaring, little trust, even less empowering with the sole purpose to create cover for one’s corporate butt.

I repeat, turning your employees into your biggest fans – see Zappos for an example – is the best social media policy there is.
http://www.sysomos.com Mark Evans

Andreas,

For some reason, your comment was sucked up into by our spam filter – it’s been rescued and now alive and well.

In theory, empowering employees is a great way to get them to do the right thing with respect to social media. But, in reality, I think you still have to offer guidelines about best practices and how to behave. It provides the company with a fallback when things go off the rails, which they will from time to time.

Mark