Social Networking: What the HR Professional Should Know

James B. Avey PhD

Acknowledgments to Kristine Foreman

The basics- Email et alWhat is Social Media?How to protect your image in the

social media spaceHow to use social media as a

professional toolThe basics of developing a social

media policy

Electronic Communications Policy Elements Voice mail, e-mail, and computer files are provided by

the employer and are for business use only.

Use of these media for personal reasons is restricted and subject to employer review.

All computer passwords and codes must be available to the employer.

The employer reserves the right to monitor or search any of the media, without notice, for business purposes.

Social Networking Facebook Linked-In My Space

Blog Sites Word Press Blogger

“Micro-Blogging” Twitter

Instant Messaging/Video Chat Yahoo/MSN Google Chat Skype

Sharing YouTube Flikr

Collaboration Google Documents Slide Share Coming Soon: Google Wave

This is your Social Network

You are connected to every other person in the social media space via your personal connections.

What are they saying about you??

The NBA fined Dallas Mavericks Owner, Mark Cuban, $25,000 for criticizing the referees in a frustrated tweet.

Cuban tweeted: “How do they not call a tech on JR Smith for coming off the bench to taunt our player on the ground?”

He is believed to be the first person to be fined by a sports league for comments made on Twitter.

A 22-year-old pursuing her master's degree in information management and systems at UC Berkeley, tweeted:

“Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.”

A Cisco employee saw the post and responded with his own tweet:

“Who is the hiring manager? I'm sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the Web.”

A Philadelphia Eagles employee, was bummed when Eagles player Brian Dawkins signed with a rival team.

So he posted his state of mind on Facebook: “Dan is [expletive] devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver … [expletive] Eagles R Retarded!!”

Days later, he was canned by the Eagles.

In April 2009, a couple of Domino’s Pizza employees filmed themselves doing disgusting and inappropriate things to food, and posted it to YouTube.

Due to sharp reactions and some clever investigative work of appalled viewers, both were promptly fired, and subsequently arrested.

According to a 2009 study by Proofpoint, Inc.:

31% of employers surveyed have fired an employee for violating e-mail policies

17% have disciplined an employee for blogging/message board policy violations 5% have fired an employee for such violations

15% have disciplined employees for multi-media sharing/posting policy violations 8% have fired employees for such violations

Source: www.proofpoint.com/outbound

8% report firing an employee for social networking activities in violation of company policy

13% of companies have investigated “exposure events” using short-message or mobile based services such as Twitter in the past 12 months

Source: www.proofpoint.com/outbound

Make your profile “private”Be selective about your “friends”

Only invite people you know and trust to connect with you

Don’t post anything that you wouldn’t want your mother (or at the very least, your boss) to see. Don’t rely on the fact that you’ve made

your profile private

Candidate posted provocative or inappropriate photographs or information - 53 %

Candidate posted content about them drinking or using drugs - 44 %

Candidate bad-mouthed their previous employer, co-workers or clients - 35 %

Source: CareerBuilder.com

Candidate showed poor communication skills - 29 % You’re = “You Are”

Candidate made discriminatory comments - 26 %

Candidate lied about qualifications - 24 % Candidate shared confidential information

from previous employer - 20 %


DO clean up digital dirt BEFORE you begin your job search. “Google” yourself

Look at the results through the eyes of an employer

Remove any photos, content and links that can work against you in an employer’s eyes


DO keep gripes offline. Keep the content focused on the positive,

whether that relates to professional or personal information.

Makes sure to highlight specific accomplishments inside and outside of work.

DON’T forget others can see your friends Monitor comments made by others. Be VERY careful about who you connect with

from work DON’T mention your job search if you’re

still employed.Source: CareerBuilder.com

Lessons from SHRM ‘09 Live Tweeting “Tweet-Ups” Who are the “HR Bloggers”?▪ Renegade HR▪ Rehaul▪ Punk Rock HR▪ The Red Recruiter▪ Startup HR

HR Niche Sites SHRM Connect HR.com

Linked-In

Fan Pages Great place to put out your

“recruiting message”“Official” ProfilesWho controls the

message? Is HR the “Gatekeeper” or

the “Brand Innovator” (or both??)

1. Decide where you stand A policy is only as good as the company that

implements it. 2. Determine what constitutes social media

What really constitutes social media? Have your own (preferably) written definition. ▪ e.g. “Social media is any website or medium (including

video) which allows for communication in the open.”

3. Clarify who owns what Make sure you and your employees know what is

theirs and what belongs to the company.4. Keep confidential information private

Best to just never share any confidential or proprietary information using social media – publicly or privately.

Source: www.marketingzen.com

5. Decide who is responsible. All employees should be encouraged to

interact and represent the brand, but there should be one or a few who are proactively handling queries.

6. Dictate the rules of engagement – without being a dictator.

You can’t stop employees from communicating using the new mediums but you can set some ground rules that work for everybody’s benefit.

Intel’s social media policy: http://www.intel.com/sites/sitewide/en_US/social-media.htm.


7. Address taboo topics. Raj Malik of Network Solutions offers this partial list:▪ Topics in which The Company is involved in litigation or

could in the future: (i.e. policy, customer disputes, etc.)▪ Non-public information of any kind about The Company,

including, but not limited to, policies and strategy▪ Illegal or banned substances and narcotics▪ Pornography or other offensive illegal materials▪ Defamatory, libelous, offensive or demeaning material▪ Private/Personal matters of yourself or others▪ Disparaging/threatening comments about or related to

anyone▪ Personal, sensitive or confidential information of any kind


8. Have a system for monitoring the social sphere. A social media policy doesn’t do much good if you don’t

actually monitor the space where the conversation is happening.

9. Make training easily available. Think “win-win.” Most people are very open to learning about how to better

leverage these sites to further their own careers and brands.

10. Have a Crisis Plan. What happens if an employee breeches the policy? What happens if the people you laid off decide to start a

Facebook hate group? Or, if a disgruntled customer (or worse...an employee) creates a YouTube video

The worst action is inaction!


James B. Avey PhD

Acknowledgements to Kristine Foreman

Social Networking: What the HR Professional Should Know

Documents

Transcript of Social Networking: What the HR Professional Should Know