BLOG: Rob Coward on how to cut the cost of Twitter and Facebook for businesses

Does social networking really "cost" the economy £1.38 billion per year? These figures have surfaced in quite a few articles since the original Morse survey (of 1,400 or so office workers) was published last October - the original press release is at http://www.morse.com/press_20.htm.

I agree that purely "personal" use is obviously out of order at work (although skiving was not invented with Twitter or even Facebook so I suspect that some of this time is more displacement from other non-productive activities... fag breaks, Minesweeper, chat while the kettle boils etc. rather than a new problem).

The difficulty is that when social media are used effectively by businesses it is very difficult to draw a dividing line between business and personal use.

These services are more about engagement, altruism (give something to get something) and building relationships - rather than a sales pitch.

A lot of Tweets and interaction on Facebook may not be directly or specifically about business. However, neither is a lot of the conversation at real world networking events (nobody likes being cornered by the "salesman" in real life either!) and yet few firms have a policy prohibiting employees from discussing their personal lives at these events.

A lot of law firms in the UK now use Twitter (see http://tweepml.org/Peninsulawyer-UK-law-firms-list/ for a selection) and many of these have partners or employees tweeting on their behalf. So do a huge number of other businesses, but I tend to focus on law firms as that is my field, and also they tend to be seen as most traditional and least likely to engage in this kind of thing.

If an employee spends half an hour tweeting about last night's Everton match with someone who subsequently becomes a client, is that a waste of time or a cost to your business?

If your employee builds up a relationship with a journalist on Twitter so that they become their "go to" person for comment on legal issues, is that a waste of time or a cost to your business?

If employees sing your praises to their Twitter followers and a great job applicant comes forward as a result... (I won't repeat the waste of time stuff!)

None of these conversations necessarily have any business content to them, but they are no more of a waste of time then they would be if conducted via the telephone or in person. Indeed, the Twitter exchange may take 5 minutes, where a trip out for a coffee and a chat may take an hour.

Equally there are risks (like the examples cited in Rob's post) and there is no question that employees can damage your business and reputation in a second if they use social media inappropriately.

This does put employment lawyers in a difficult position when advising on "social media policies". Unless you want to stifle your business's social media profile, the policy must be more nuanced than an outright ban, but it inevitable involves a large degree of trust and releasing control - neither of which sit terribly well with many law firms.

Those advocating a technical solution ("block access to Twitter on your network") are at least four years too late. Twitter users are probably as likely to be using their iPhone, Android or whatever as a Twitter client - shutting down the network is likely to just lead to them Tweeting to their friends about your regressive IT policies using their mobile device.

This means your policy has to cover more than just access of these sites via your network, but obviously you can't prevent staff from Tweeting or using Facebook in the evenings or weekends.

Do you want to tell them that they are forbidden from mentioning anything about their job or employer on these sites at all? Even if this is practical, you are going to lose a lot of opportunities like the examples above.

For businesses who are serious about a workable social media policy (rather than a ban) a good starting point is the Social Media Governance database of Social Media Policies (http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php) which has compiled a huge number of social media and blogging policies and guidelines.

I think the guidelines the Australian Broadcasting Corporation issued to their staff (after an employee was fired for ranting on a personal blog) are an interesting example:-

* Do not mix the professional and the personal in ways likely to bring the ABC into disrepute.
* Do not undermine your effectiveness at work.
* Do not imply ABC endorsement of your personal views.
* Do not disclose confidential information obtained through work.

See http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/05/2733929.htm for the full story.

Employment lawyers may think this is much too general, but in reality it would catch all the examples in the blog post.

For professional advice, my personal view is that the best advice is likely to be from those who understand and participate in social media (and have a good grasps of the risks and benefits for businesses) so if you are instructing a lawyer make sure you ask them some questions about their credentials and experience in the field.