Recently on linkedin, I asked folks, “How Much Say Should a Company Have in Regulating Internal Social Media Usage?” I received many responses and I have shared some of them below. But think about that question for a moment. How should a company regulate internal social media usage? If a company finds out that someone is spending a lot of time on twitter, is it wise to reprimand the person, OR, to make him the social media ambassador for the company? Should a company just block all sites like wordpress, youtube, twitter, etc? or would this just make matters worse? The questions can go on and on and on. Here are a few of the responses…
Consultant – Internet Marketing
“Bottom line – unless you are using Social Media in your job, it is considered using company resources (and time) for personal usage and should not be allowed.”
Director, Multi-Channel Market Development at Circuit City
“My general sense is that people are getting a bit stupid with what they write on-line, much like people got with email. If you would not feel comfortable having the same “discussion” with a reporter and/or your CEO, then you probably should not write about it on-line in a way that ties back to your employer.”
Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“In my opinion employees should not be wasting time on social media during work hours.”
Expert Communications Consultant with Multicultural Vision
“What is needed is not a social networking patrol but some guidelines in how to do it safely and effectively — I am amazed at the stuff some people put in “What are you working on?” — and some encouragement for good practices. Most companies also need to learn what social networking is about. I have met people who think it is a game; probably the same people who banned Internet because it was “a game”. I bet they said the same thing about the telephone, too.”
Internet marketing and place branding consultant, columnist, speaker, owner Scope Comm
“Companies should make an editorial policy about what employees are allowed to do and what they are not. If used wisely, the employees use of social media can actually boost your brand awareness and your business.”
Search Engine Marketing Director at NetPlus Marketing, Inc
“Employers have the right to monitor what you do at work. For better or worse that is just the way it is. I think more enlightened companies will realize that no matter how mechanized they might want the workplace to be, people are not machines and need to create policies that recognize that. If the work gets done and the use of the net does not get in the way then there has got to be some slack in there. Morale and performance might even pick up if people don’t feel they have to watch their back all the time.”
As you can see there are a quite a lot of varying responses to this question. This is a hot topic amongst social media users and corporations. The full linkedin thread can be found here. So what do you think? How much say should a company have in regulating internal social media usage?
Thanks for reading, I’m looking forward to reading your responses!
I agree that unless it’s part of your job, there’s no reason for the company to pay employees to IM, Twitter and play with their Facebook/MySpace accounts. There should be clear and reasonable policies communicated as well.
Heck, if staff have so little to do that their social media usage is of concern, then the company has other problems to solve, like getting more clients and increasing workload.
I agree. The trick is to create an atmosphere where employees feel their work is valuable. More and more in the “nomad culture” that social media and mobile electronic devices allow, employees, especially young employees, work better with objectives. Employers need to learn to set objectives that are reasonable and then to trust their employees to complete the objectives. An important thing is not to de-motivate employees by sucking them dry through round-the-clock online work, which tends to increase online socialising for overworked employees rather than the other way around.
What I’d be interested to know is how many of these social media nay sayers were posting their views/opinions on LinkedIn over work hours? 🙂
I see lots of business people using LinkedIn, but because it’s viewed as being a “business tool,” it automatically walks from any such policies, even though I may be using Facebook or YouTube as business tools in marketing efforts.
I think it’s fine for companies to monitor usage of these sites, as they have the right to do, but they can’t just shut them all off for employees, especially when they are being used for business. Otherwise, people may just decide its not that great of a place to work and will find another job that lets them do those things.
haha excellent point Mike! I’m willing to bet that a lot of these folks did indeed answer these questions while on work time.
I have a few stories of companies which began policing social media usage resulting in a very uncomfortable place to work. Perception is everything!
thanks for the comment mike
Re: “If a company finds out that someone is spending a lot of time on twitter, is it wise to reprimand the person, OR, to make him the social media ambassador for the company?”
I’d say fire the fucker. If he has no respect for the company’s and is Twittering all day, he deserves to be canned, not promoted!
But the question comes down to: is the person in good standing at work? Do others respect the employee? Is that employee getting all the work done on an A+ level?
If not, you shouldn’t be spending “a lot of time” not doing your job.
The example employee just sounds really lazy to me.
It’s interesting the see the varying responses here (I’ll have to read in further when it’s not so late)… But I will say that in my industry, for a company to regulate social media usage is a detriment to an employees marketing potential. If you’re not going to be given the ability to market yourself via social media, maybe it’s time you moved elsewhere. But again, this is in “my” industry so I don’t speak for all companies.
Yes, I’m waiting to be promoted to Chief Scrabulous Officer of my company any day now. I feel like if I show them my clear record of bingoes they will see the value.
@Linda
Great point. Not only that, but you never know who at your company can become the accidental spokesperson.
@George
I think there is a fine line between using social media at work and not respecting the company. Using social media does not mean that the person just sits on twitter all day. Look at all the powerful use cases for social media: Dell, GM, H&R Block, etc.
I do agree with you that quality work still needs to be maintained. If you can prove that someone’s social media habits are causing productivity/quality to decline, then that is another issue.
@Ricardo
Interesting point. A company is only as good as the employees that work there. By giving the employees a chance to use social media and share their experiences/talk about their brand. You are giving them a channel that allows them to increase brand visibility/awareness/etc.
@Barry
Come now, surely you don’t think social media is useless, it extends to more than just games. H&R Block, Southwest Airlines, and Zappos are all using twitter with great results. If social media=scrabulous in your opinion, well then I suggest reading up on a few case studies.
Thanks for the comments everyone!
@ Jacob
Keep in mind you said this person was spending “a lot of time” on this activity.
Let me repeat.
A lot of time.
That means: A lot of time NOT doing the work their employer asked them to.
As far as I am concerned, a GOOD employee would be spending “a lot of time” going the extra mile, helping out co-workers who have a lot of work, ANYTHING.
@ Mike
The “naysayers” on this board posted at 7:10 PM and 4:12 AM – is that at work? Wow, long shifts!
@George
You are correct, I did say a lot of time and of course this is really broad. How much time would you allow an employee to spend a day using social media (if any)
It’s important to keep in mind that even if you post around 100 messages on twitter while at work, that would only take a few minutes out of your day. If one of the readers of your tweets happens to inquire about your company and eventually becomes a client, is that not worth “a lot” of time on twitter?
I receive several inquires regarding my work from people who read my twitter, blog, linkedin, etc. If I were working full time for a company and were able to pass those leads off it would be well worth my time on social media, and most people I have spoken with agree.
Now don’t get me wrong, I do agree with you that the employee should be getting his work done and should be using social media in good taste, meaning not bashing the company they work for. However the company should have just as much respect for the employee as the employee does for the company. That means not necessarily restricting an employees use of social media. All that is going to do is make the employee upset and angry and will that will lead to bigger problems.
There are a lot of companies out there that are beginning to realize how powerful social media can be in several aspects of a business, including lead gen, product development, marketing, etc. It’s quite easy and effortless to have a twitter window open to throw up a few comments.
Thanks again for the comments George. I like the debates and hope to hear from you on other posts.
You seem to be saying that the employee MIGHT contribute value while spending “a lot of time” NOT doing their job.
In the scenario you are imagining, did the employee go to the employer FIRST and mention their intent to spend “a lot of time” doing something other than their job?
If not, no matter what the POSSIBLE benefit, the employee is taking it into his or her hands to not do the job they were hired to do.
Hi George,
Obviously if you are not doing the job you were hired for that is a problem. But if you are able to get your work done and are able to spend some time on social media sites, then you should be allowed to do so.
In this case “a lot of time” doesn’t seem to be a good metric and perhaps should have been omitted from the question.
Insightful read. I have stumbled and twittered this for my friends. Others no doubt will like it like I did.
Insightful read. I have stumbled and twittered this for my friends. Others no doubt will like it like I did.