Facebook, PR, and Office Politics
Kristin Maverick over at Bitemarks has got me thinking Facebook today. Though to be fair, it’s not like it takes much to get me started on that subject lately!
First, she mentions Scoble’s recent post in which he (as Brian Solis said in a response earlier today) asks readers to “give [him] another reason to love [his] iPhone” by posting pitches on his Facebook Wall instead of via email (which will, in turn, zap through to his phone).
I don’t know if I could even hope to improve on Kristin’s and Brian’s analysis other than to lean towards agreeing with the latter’s assertion that posting full-out pitches or press releases on someone’s Wall for the public to see might not be the best idea.
But that doesn’t mean Facebook has no potential as an incredibly valuable communications tool. The industry simply needs to continue to adjust to the idea that they aren’t operating from behind the curtain anymore–at least not in the realm of social media. Posting a generic pitch or press relaease on someone’s MySpace page or Facebook wall? Bad. Connecting with them on a personal level first and engaging their interest in what your release is really all about? Good.
Speaking of, what is your release really all about? Another point Brian mentions is that PR pros tend to “speak in messages.” He urges us to remember that one message might work on one audience, but must be tailored for the next. That‘s the key to connecting on a network like Facebook (or any social network, really). Getting in touch with what you’re really trying to say, and shaping how you say it in a way that will best engage the community you’re trying to reach.
In other Facebook news (again, hat tip to Kristin for the link!), the Wall Street Journal‘s Cubicle Culture column discusses how to handle a boss that wants to “friend” you. It’s a cute article, with anecdotes about employees’ shock and surprise when they accepted their bosses after cleaning up their profiles, only to find their bosses’ profiles to be just as embarassing. But it brings up a point that seems to keep cropping up as social media continues to permeate our personal and professional lives.
My own feeling, if I were an employer, would be that if I were to turn away anyone who’d ever been caught on film doing something foolish at a party…I probably wouldn’t have many employees. That being said, I might also make it a part of my company’s social media policy that all networking pages must be kept to the “private” setting, viewable only by friends. That would eliminate the potential for curious customers or clients to be inadvertently offended.
In my own online networking, I have elected to keep my Facebook page mostly professional (adding only a few trusted personal friends that I know will not be prone to posting photos of me “glassy eyed at a party,” as the WSJ reporter puts it), and my MySpace page entirely personal (and also private). I see this as the safest route.
What would your social media policy be, as an employer? And how do you keep your personal and professional contacts separate in the online networking world?
Tags: Facebook, MySpace, Kristin Maverick
