Ethos Public Relations Manchester

Rules is rules!

by Shaun

We're just in the process of updating our company communications policy to take into account the use of social networking sites.

Since our policy was first written, just over three years ago, it's incredible to think how the use of social networking sites has grown. In 2006, I don't think I knew what Facebook was and Twitter had only just come into existence.

The Twitter 'joke' reported in the newspapers last month, which led to the first person in the UK being arrested for comments posted on Twitter, flagged up to all of us the need to be careful about what we post on social networking sites. This person's Twitter comment about blowing up Robin Hood Airport led to their arrest under the Terrorism Act, seven hours of police questioning and suspension from work!

As the use of social networking sites is now so common, from both a personal and a business point of view, we thought it was high time we set out in writing some of the do's and don't's for us all as employees of Ethos public relations.

The example above is extreme, but the issues of what should or should not be posted, who it is shared with and how it is shared are all important if employees and companies are to avoid getting into hot water.

In addition to the obvious things like confidentiality, not bringing the company into disrepute and generally not been offensive, issues include the need for employees to make it clear when posting whether they are speaking on their own behalf or on behalf of the company.

Making sure you're only posting to the people you should be posting to is important too. Recent news stories of Facebook postings causing disastrous consequences include teenagers announcing their house parties to everyone on Facebook, only to find they're inundated with troublemakers, leaving their parent's home wrecked.

Because social networking sites are still relatively new, it seems like there are lots of pitfalls when posting. However, I'm sure for most of us, the more confident and experienced we get at posting on them, particularly for business purposes, the less problematical they will seem. In the end, I guess it mainly boils down to common sense.

Image: luigi diamanti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Posted at 5:24pm on 24^th February 2010