Being Social #9 - FTC Guidelines & Your Employees

Welcome to eNetworking 101 and Being Social!

In the May 2010 issue of Information Today, Bart A. Lazar - a partner in Seyfarth Shaw, LLP - offered tips on creating social media policies for your business. Lazar wrote that:

...employers should pay particular attention to several concerns: that they follow the guidelines that the FTC has expressed regarding employee blogging, that employees who blog on behalf of the employer are well-trained in company policy, and that employees who are not permitted to blog on behalf of the employer are trained to use appropriate notifications and disclaimers.

The guidelines are all about disclosure - disclosing if the employee is or is not allowed to blog about her place of work (POW).

When there exists a connection...such connection must be fully disclosed.

Notice that even if you do not allow your employees to blog (or talk) about your business using social media, they still need to acknowledge a connection to their place of employment. They can either say "yes, I am able to discuss what we do" OR include disclaimers and notifications that state this her words are not associated with her place of work.

Frequently I see people mention their POW (or MPOW - my place of work) by using that acronym. While that seems to distance the person from her workplace, generally if the person is using social media, it is easy to figure out where the person works. Looking at the guidelines, it would be better if the person had text on the blog (or social media site) that noted that the person's thoughts about work are truly her own.

What should you do? If you are in a position of authority in your organization, read the guidelines provided by the FTC and look at the included examples. If you have authorized social media users, make sure that they understand the company's policy on social media. (And if you don't have a policy, now is a good time to create one.) Undoubtedly, you have employees who are using social media and who are not authorized to speak on behalf of your organization. Draft simple and clear text that they can use as a disclaimer and make it available to them.

You will wonder if you need to monitor your employees and their use of social media. I prefer education and awareness versus monitoring. If you train your employees well and give them knowledge they need to comply with the FTC guidelines, then I think you should not need to monitor their social media use. And honestly, it could take too many resources to do it and cause a lack of trust in your organization - both of which can harm your environment.

If you are not in a position of authority within your organization, consider discussing this matter with someone who is. This is an important issue that should not be ignored. (Feel free to show the person this blog post as a way of starting the conversation.)

Tips: I've got two Twitter tips for you and one more generic tip.

1. Use the search feature in Twitter to locate tweets of interest to you, then comment on the tweet or just retweet it. You could also use the search feature to follow interesting events, topics or trends.
2. While Twitter keeps improving, it still doesn't do all that we want. Enter the world of "Twitter clients". Here's a quick review of several of them. On my PCs, I'm currently using Hootsuite, but have also used Tweetdeck and I like both for different reasons. On my iPhone, I have those two installed and Twitterrific. I would suggest trying 1-2 to see if they help you organize your Twitter-stream. If they don't provide the functionality you want, then try a couple more. And don't be surprised if your preference for Twitter clients changes over time.
   
3. If your using any service that allows you to update your status, use it! If you don't want to say what you're doing, mention a relevant article that you have read or a news story that relates to your area of interest. If it interested you, it will interest others.
   

For Your Information & Entertainment: This book -- Twitter Power -- on how to dominate your market one tweet at a time is available both in print and for the Kindle. The book isn't just about sales, but also about building your brand and interacting with your customers. Isn't that what we all want?

Want to read previous issues of Being Social? Go to:
http://enetworking101.blogspot.com/search/label/Being%20Social

Comments? If you have a comment about this issue of Being Social, please email me or leave a comment in the blog. Thanks!

The next issue of Being Social will be published in about two weeks. Until then...!