elearnspace

Social media (that term that now means everything and as a consequence, nothing) has caught the attention of most organizations. Companies have faced the impact of criticism by social networks (United Breaks Guitars, Dell Hell, etc.)…as have celebrities (do I really have to list names?). For companies, concerns arise as to how employees engage with blogs/twitter/facebook/youtube in representing their corporation. As a result, numerous organizations have created social media participation guidelines. Here’s a list of 113. If you’re looking for something more along the lines of a workshop, Australia’s Telstra has posted their social media participation training guide.
I’m conflicted on this – why reduce things to policies and guidelines? Sure, there will always be a few people that will do silly things, but I wonder if the dampening effect of policies doesn’t have a higher cost than allowing a few mistakes.