Image credit: gigathoughts.com
There has been a lot of Twitter activity, and a lot of blog activity, these last two months or so, revolving around Social Media Policies. Most of the agencies, and the indie consultants, be they social media, marketing and/or pr, seem to think that having a policy in place is a good thing. After all, if you’re trying to encourage participation in Social Media, and what agency or indie isn’t doing that these days, it’s likely a good thing to convince your client of the need for a well crafted policy. In what seems like the true spirit of Social Media, companies have been posting and sharing those policies outside of their corporate walls. Undeniably, this has to help the overall effort as all businesses struggle with this newfangled Social Media.
Here are links to just a few of the posts that have dealt with this should you care to read through them.
10 things you should cover in your social networking policy
3 Great Social Media Policies to Steal From
Deloitte Study Suggests Social Media Policy a Must Have
Do you have a social-media policy? Do you need one?
Social Media Usage Policies: Less Lawyering, More Encouraging
Yesterday, David Armano wrote a piece for Conversation Starter, one of the Harvard Business Blogs, entitled Six Social Media Trends for 2010. Conversation Starter is one of the more thought provoking blogs and David is one of the more thought provoking practitioners of digital marketing and the social web. Both are well worth your time, following and reading, if you don’t already do so.
The fourth of the six trends that David suggests is this:
“4. Your company will have a social media policy (and it might actually be enforced)
If the company you work for doesn’t already have a social media policy in place with specific rules of engagement across multiple networks, it just might in the next year. From how to conduct yourself as an employee to what’s considered competition, it’s likely that you’ll see something formalized about how the company views social media and your participation in it.”
For some reason this post got me thinking about Social Media policy in a way I hadn’t previously considered. Let me start by saying that in the past year, over coffees, cocktails, socials, and meals, I have suggested to many friends who own or run businesses, as we have discussed Social Media and how it might fit within their business models and plans, that they start thinking about implementing social media policies. It seemed, at the time, like a no brainer to me. And to them as well after we started talking about it. Stories were starting to appear that documented some poor Tweeter or blogger losing their job over a not so well thought out tweet or blog post. Having a policy in place seemed like something that would protect both the employees and the employers as we moved forward in the wild, wild social web.
But after reading David’s post yesterday, I found myself asking if this was really such a good thing after all. I suspect it was the fact that a “trend” pointed to likely wide scale adoption and that’s what triggered this line of thinking. Now, obviously, we still need to be mindful of somehow protecting both employees and employers. But, is “policy” the right way to go about that? Will it bring the desired results and benefits that can be gained from social web participation?
Here’s the rub. Policy statements, by and large, are designed to take thinking out of the equation for the people they effect. They are “rules” if you will. Given this, you will do that. Or, given that, you will do this. No need to think. No need to reason. Just do it. No participation necessary. Which, of course, leads to thoughtless obedience or cheerful mischief depending on your personally type. Once policies are drafted and rules declared, there’s no room for participation. For creativity. For imagination.
Aren’t those some of the very crucial skills that we’ll need going forward in the social web, in dealing with social media? Would we perhaps be better off if we framed those policies with stories instead? Stories, after all, encourage and invite people to participate, to use their imaginations. Wouldn’t our businesses be better served by employees who were actively participating with our customers, solving their problems creatively? Stories allow employees to participate and come up with their own alternatives to the paradoxes that exist between business goals and customer expectations. Rules and policies do not.
What do you think? Are social media policies better framed as clear rules and guidelines, or, are they better expressed by stories that encourage creative thinking?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
“Policy statements, by and large, are designed to take thinking out of the equation for the people they effect.”
That’s the point, exactly. If you need a policy to force your people to communicate in the “right” way, I sincerely hope you’re not touting corporate values like “our people are our most important asset”.
It’s always struck me as slightly odd that companies are going through a lot of trouble trying to manage their employees’ online behavior during work hours. If company policies and the work atmosphere stink, there’s no way you can prevent disgruntled employees from giving vent to their feelings on their free time. So what’s the use?
To answer your question, I think stories and one-to-one communication are definitely the solution. A well-run company has employees who instinctively and voluntarily follow the corporate line while interacting with their customers in a personalized way. If they don’t, it’s a C-suite and HR problem. Keyword: Motivate (not “force”).
Kimmo, you said that so well. I really like “Motivate (not “force”)”.
It’s funny you would pick the “our people are our most important asset” corporate value as an example. It was the paradox that results from the collision of this and the other tenet, “our customers are always right” that I was thinking about when I said that it was stories that enabled us to deal with paradoxes in a way that rules and policies never would. Given those two values, how is the employee supposed to react and respond when the customer goes off on him or her? Story, as opposed to rules and regulations, is much more likely to provide guidance and inspiration in that scenario.