This social media policy database contains links to more than 70 social media policies, and you can filter by industry: http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php

Hi Dave, I've been working on a similar series for associations. We've been working through a lot of fear and confusion in the space. But I finally came up with a useful summary... Trust your peeps to do the right thing, and help them define what the right thing is. Looking forward to following your series. @lindydreyer

I work in a federal government agency where we released social media guidelines for staff last year. We based them on the IBM Computing Guidelines - http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html

I just finished composing a similar document and one of the hardest things to deal with was creating enforceable rules while staying within the spontaneous, inclusive nature of Social Media. I'll be very interested to see your thoughts.

Looking forward to following this discussion. Two thoughts. 1. I agree employees need clear guidelines and some form of training. Employees who are engaged and active with social media WILL advocate for their employer. I think ideally, we give them a resource to go through if they see a discussion or issue online to make sure the right response is provided. Sometimes issues need to be responded to by senior management. 2. A continuing risk comes from a lack of awareness of how public online content is. A teenager tags a funny picture on her unprotected Facebook profile of Uncle Harvey behaving badly at a family wedding. Uncle Harvey is CFO of A Very Important Company. A new investor googles Uncle Harvey before their first meeting and the picture pops up. There have been well-reported cases in the media where politicians and educators have been literally caught with their pants down. I do wonder if the corporate sector is also at risk here. Interested in your thoughts --

I think you have covered the key areas, well done! One thing I have learned is that we can never take employees' level of "social media understanding" for granted. For instance, never assume they know confidential mean, literally, with no exception, confidential, not to be shared anywhere, even on their casual twitter updates. (we should all refer back to the Fedex agency story) It is particular true in organizations or groups where there is a high turn over (like call centre). Also, I think there should be mentioning of employees' multiple social media IDs. They may already have a personal blog/twitter going. Look forward to seeing more of this very important info. Wish I could attend that conference!

Thanks Bob. I like that structure (even if simple frameworks can't capture everything) - in fact, I wrote about it a few months back: http://davefleet.com/2009/01/avoiding-the-dark-side-of-social-media/

The US Air Force did a really interesting flowchart on social media engagement and response. Here's the link: http://blog.techrigy.com/2009/01/us-airforce-flow-chart-rules-of-blogger-engagement/

You've covered lots of ground. Intel has a good general policy that touches on these points. In addition, companies should be aware of some of the legal issues with respect to using social media to screen new hires. I touched on this in a post I wrote. http://www.gilliebee.com/2009/02/lawyers-all-atwitter.html Good luck with your talk!

Dave - thanks for taking on this series as it is incredibly important for brands wanting to engage in social media. Thankfully, there are plenty of good "case studies" available for companies looking to create one - IBM, Dell, Sun being three that come to mind.   I know when we were writing ours it was actually much more difficult than I anticipated. The layers of approval took some time, obviously, but trying to balance between the often competing goals of fostering participation and making sure the organization was covered was pretty tough.   I look forward to reading your posts on this topic.

Hi mate,   Just put one of these together with my Converseon client Telstra - Australia's largest Telco and ISP.   The policy is here: http://www.nowwearetalking.com.au/opinion/blog-how-the-3rs-empower-telstra-staff-online-225   You can see me having a chat about it in the Australian Financial Review here: http://youngie.prblogs.org/files/2009/05/australian-financial-review-042809.pdf   It's important to keep it simple, and always remember training plays a huge role in helping people look after themselves. Guidelines better than rules imo.

This social media policy database contains links to more than 70 social media policies, and you can filter by industry:

http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php

Hi Dave,
I've been working on a similar series for associations. We've been working through a lot of fear and confusion in the space. But I finally came up with a useful summary...

Trust your peeps to do the right thing, and help them define what the right thing is.

Looking forward to following your series.
@lindydreyer

I work in a federal government agency where we released social media guidelines for staff last year. We based them on the IBM Computing Guidelines - http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html

I just finished composing a similar document and one of the hardest things to deal with was creating enforceable rules while staying within the spontaneous, inclusive nature of Social Media. I'll be very interested to see your thoughts.

Looking forward to following this discussion. Two thoughts.

1. I agree employees need clear guidelines and some form of training. Employees who are engaged and active with social media WILL advocate for their employer. I think ideally, we give them a resource to go through if they see a discussion or issue online to make sure the right response is provided. Sometimes issues need to be responded to by senior management.

2. A continuing risk comes from a lack of awareness of how public online content is. A teenager tags a funny picture on her unprotected Facebook profile of Uncle Harvey behaving badly at a family wedding. Uncle Harvey is CFO of A Very Important Company. A new investor googles Uncle Harvey before their first meeting and the picture pops up. There have been well-reported cases in the media where politicians and educators have been literally caught with their pants down. I do wonder if the corporate sector is also at risk here. Interested in your thoughts --

I think you have covered the key areas, well done! One thing I have learned is that we can never take employees' level of "social media understanding" for granted. For instance, never assume they know confidential mean, literally, with no exception, confidential, not to be shared anywhere, even on their casual twitter updates. (we should all refer back to the Fedex agency story)

It is particular true in organizations or groups where there is a high turn over (like call centre).

Also, I think there should be mentioning of employees' multiple social media IDs. They may already have a personal blog/twitter going.

Look forward to seeing more of this very important info. Wish I could attend that conference!

Thanks Bob. I like that structure (even if simple frameworks can't capture everything) - in fact, I wrote about it a few months back: http://davefleet.com/2009/01/avoiding-the-dark-side-of-social-media/

The US Air Force did a really interesting flowchart on social media engagement and response.

Here's the link:

http://blog.techrigy.com/2009/01/us-airforce-flow-chart-rules-of-blogger-engagement/

You've covered lots of ground. Intel has a good general policy that touches on these points.

In addition, companies should be aware of some of the legal issues with respect to using social media to screen new hires. I touched on this in a post I wrote.

http://www.gilliebee.com/2009/02/lawyers-all-atwitter.html

Good luck with your talk!

Dave - thanks for taking on this series as it is incredibly important for brands wanting to engage in social media. Thankfully, there are plenty of good "case studies" available for companies looking to create one - IBM, Dell, Sun being three that come to mind.

I know when we were writing ours it was actually much more difficult than I anticipated. The layers of approval took some time, obviously, but trying to balance between the often competing goals of fostering participation and making sure the organization was covered was pretty tough.

I look forward to reading your posts on this topic.

Hi mate,

Just put one of these together with my Converseon client Telstra - Australia's largest Telco and ISP.

The policy is here: http://www.nowwearetalking.com.au/opinion/blog-how-the-3rs-empower-telstra-staff-online-225

You can see me having a chat about it in the Australian Financial Review here: http://youngie.prblogs.org/files/2009/05/australian-financial-review-042809.pdf

It's important to keep it simple, and always remember training plays a huge role in helping people look after themselves. Guidelines better than rules imo.