Safety First: Social Media, Policy, and Life Lessons

Hot Topic

Social media security has become a hot topic in today's internet society and is not something to brush off. As we continue to grow and manage our social media sites across various platforms, it is even more important to focus on security. Social media security is making sure that you are protecting your identity online, mainly in the form of secure passwords and privacy settings, but also by closely monitoring and being aware of what you share online. To think you will completely anonymous online using social media is naive.

Social media policy is a set of guidelines and rules that companies can create in order to provide safety to their employees and themselves. Below is an infographic provided by PayScale via Mashable in an article by Lauren Hockenson (2012) that describes how companies felt about social media at the time.

Hopefully the attitudes have changed somewhat throughout the years and more companies today have policies as they are important to employee and company security. If you are looking for a job and do not have LinkedIn, shame on you!

5 Quick Tips to Social Media Security

To help you easily navigate social media security and better understand why your company's internet policy is in place and important to follow, please follow these guidelines:

1. Privacy Settings are Your Best Friend -  Privacy settings are there for a reason and should be used extensively. Like your best friend, get to know and understand your settings so that you can know their limits and purpose. Also, friends can change overtime, and so can your social media sites settings, so take time to look into any new updates.

2. Different Site, Different Password - One security breach can multiply if you let it. Don't let it! Make sure you have different passwords for your social media sites, online banking, credit cards, store accounts, etc. Stop a thief in their tracks.

3. Would You Look Back at This and Regret It? - When posting anything online, think of the consequences and your audience. Would a future employer want to see you dancing on that bar? Does using profanity really make that post more compelling? Would you want to take that post back? Too bad, once posted, always posted. Take time to understand what you are posting and to whom the post will go to. Be kind if you expect that from others. Know your company's social media policy before mentioning them in a post, because they could be watching too.

    Personal Example:  I was about to study abroad and found out the school I was going through for the program had this nifty networking site. I promptly created a profile, uploaded a bunch of pictures and starting commenting and leaving messages left and right. About 6 months later, I decided to Google myself to see what would come up (which is tip #4). All of my pictures, messages, and information I uploaded onto a college program website were at the top of the results and pictures! If I had not checked, I would have shared a bit more with the companies I had planned on interviewing with than I had liked. If I had followed tips 1 and 3, this would not have happened.

4. Google Your Name Regularly - This is a personal tip, but I feel it is useful in that you can see what others may see if they tried to search you. It may help close security gaps like in my example or help you identify any frauds.

5. When in Doubt Close it Out - Website look a little different than you remember? Is their a strange password prompt or something asking for more information than you feel comfortable giving? Close it out and walk away. As more advanced hackers are coming forward with new schemes, they best policy is to stay away from anything you feel uncomfortable about.

Conclusion

Social media is a great tool if used wisely. Companies should not be scared of social media and create policies that limit all activity, as that may infringe on our constitutional rights if not designated properly to narrow constraints (Collins, 2012). Allowing employees to understand what is expected of them via social media verses limiting it all together not only boosts moral but creates open communication in which problems that may be aired publicly, revert to their proper outlet such as HR.

As we continue to use social media, it is always important to be aware. Awareness is critical, as it will allow us to better spot when things just aren't right and allow us to move comfortably through the internet. For this post I used an array of sources about social media security, all listed below, and there are many more resources if you ever have concerns.

References

Collins, Jillian M. NRLB Report: Employers' Social Media Policies Must be Narrow, Must not Restrict Right to Engage in Protected Activities. February 1, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.natlawreview.com/article/nrlb-report-employers-social-media-policies-must-be-narrow-must-not-restrict-right-t

Hockenson, Lauren. How Employees Really Feel About Social Media [Infographic]. June 10, 2012. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2012/06/10/employer-social-media/

Social Media Safety. Social Networks. 2014. Retrieved from http://www.staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/protect-your-personal-information/social-networks

Stern, Joanna. Safer Internet Day: 10 Tips to Protect Yourself Online. February 4, 2013. Retrieved from  http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/safer-internet-day-password-online-shopping-internet-safety/story?id=18404839

Whittaker, Zack. September 2011: The Definitive Facebook Lockdown Guide. September 4, 2011. Retrieved from http://www.zdnet.com/blog/igeneration/september-2011-the-definitive-facebook-lockdown-guide/12641.

Social Commerce - Why I matter more to your purchase decision and a company's product invention

     During my undergraduate I had a professor whose answer to any question you had, was "Well, did you Google it?" He did this not because he did not know the answer, but to prove the point that we have been given a great gift with the creation of search engines like Google. Gone are the days of wondering, when an answer is a mere search away. Now we have social media, different platforms by which we can connect with our friends and thought leaders. A search engine is no longer an efficient way to find what we are looking for when is comes to a purchase and companies need to start looking into ways to tap into social networks as a means of ultimate word-of-mouth management.
"Nielsen reports that 90 percent of people trust their peers' opinions"(Qualman, 2013, p 72). That is, that consumers are more likely to trust the opinion of someone they know verses the opinions of anonymous reviews brought up on a search engine.

Social commerce is the idea that we as business leaders can harness the power of our consumers' social networks in order to create products, not campaigns, that our consumers need. 

Let's try an example...

     Say for instance you wish to purchase a new bike. Instead of typing in "bike" to a search engine (giving you over 1 million results), you do this but on a social networking site, say Facebook for example (although they have not yet mastered this type of searching).  When you search "bike" on Facebook, you see that 200 of your friends recently commented about bikes, 75 about a recent bike purchase. Of those 75, 25 purchased mountain bikes, which is what you wish to look into further. Seven of your friends purchased the same brand of mountain bike. You're friend John is an avid mountain biker with a lot of knowledge and a tight wallet. You know he would be willing to spend more for quality and knows the best bikes to chose. He is a fan of the mountain bike brand page and notice he has commented about his new bike, saying "I can't believe the quality and value of the new model. This is my third bike from this brand and I have never had any problems! LOVE YOU GUYS!!!". You decide to go to this brand.

     "This intimate knowledge of people within your social network is key, and is the main reason why reviews via social media have gone to the next level compared to other online reviews in the past"(Qualman, 2013, p. 76).  "Next level" means a purchase. Like noted before, you are more likely to trust the review of your mountain biking friend, than a random biker you have never met, nor know their own level of expertise when it comes to mountain biking.

     As a business, we can gather knowledge gained from social networking sites in order to modify, change, and invent old and new products and services. After development, we then take these products to social media, gain feedback, better refine, and then allow our social sites to push these products to consumers based on their thoughts, needs, actions, and connections.

     A lot to process, but imagine it as the world's most efficient and realistic focus group. Creating products that market themselves, doing away with the need to advertising and making it more of an enhancer, than an initiator.

     What company's have you seen that are trying this concept, successful or unsuccessful? How many times have you wanted to show a video that came up on your news feed on Facebook and wished you could search the video title and find it on the site instead of scrolling for minutes trying to find it again?

Qualman, Erik. 2013. Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business. Second Edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Communication, Strategy, and the Pursuit of Positioning

     In class this week we are discussing strategy and how communication plays a role in how strategy is formulated and implemented. In "The Strategic Communication Imperative" Argenti, Howell, and Beck, "...define strategic communication as communication aligned with the company's overall strategy, to enhance its strategic positioning."(p. 83). In the grand scheme of a business any company, at the end of the day, no matter how simple, is striving towards one common goal to be achieved whether it be through one product or service or multiple products or services, under the same company or scattered throughout several company umbrellas. In order to achieve this goal, a company must communicate, all the pieces must work together and communicate in order to achieve that one common goal.

     According to T. Micheal Glenn, president and CEO of FedEx, "'Communication is at the center of everything. You can't execute strategy if you can't communicate about it,..."(Argenti, Howell, Beck, 2005, p.84). I believe this sums up business. If you do not have the ability or do not take the time in which to communicate properly what your strategy is, then all of your segments, employees, stakeholders, audience, etc, lose purpose, or worse, create what they feel their purpose should be, further blurring the intended strategy and creating a fragmented business. This will not achieve your strategy. Also, take in to mind employees. They look for a purpose and a commitment from their executives.


"'The only way to show the commitment is to communicate with passion, face-to-face, all the time with the same message.'"(Argenti, Howell, Beck, 2005, p85)

     With all of the different ways in which company's can communicate with their audiences, and the need for constant reminders and a "real" relationship, integrated communications, as well as proper use of social media is important. Integration is simple, all parts must work together, you must have a consistent message. Social media provides company's with the ability to gain the "face-to-face" element with a vast audience at the same time. Social media is rebuilding the relationship element of business, where customers feel like they have impact and importance to business. A part of strategy should revolve around the customer, the end user. What better way to support this element then to openly communicate with them?

     "As an organization grows in size and complexity -- more markets, customers, products, services, employees, suppliers, investors, and so on -- the need for a consistent communications strategy becomes even more critical because it must communicate to a diverse and rapidly expanding array of constituents while remaining relevant to all."(Argenti, Howell, Beck, 2005, p86)

     It is important that all communication must work together. If the overall theme of your Twitter, Facebook group, website, and blogs are mismatched and voice conflicting information, your business can come off as confused and your sites lose reputability. As you look to reach multiple audiences, you must take into account that they will use multiple platforms in which to reach you. By creating an integrated communications strategy, a company is able to position themselves in a way that is definable, recognizable, and understood by all audiences in which they interact.

     Have you ever come across a company whose social media content across different platforms is conflicting? If so, what was your initial reaction and what conclusions did you draw about the company due to their fragmented communications?

Argenti, P.A. Howell, R.A. & Beck, K.A. (2005). The Strategic Communication Imperative. MIT Sloan Management Review. Retrieved February 4, 2014 from https://www.dartmouth.edu/~opa/communicators/fall08/reading//Sloan_MIT_Strat_Comm_Imp.pdf