ComMetrics social media guidelines

2010-03-05 – Update –  results from a policy generator
2010-02-27 – Update – added US Military media policy
2010-02-03 – Update - added Coca-Cola media policy
For updates go toward bottom of this post.

Here we spell out our policies, including copyright, disclosure, privacy, social media (you are here), and terms and conditions.

The above guidelines apply when using  CASEScontact.org and CyTRAP Labs as well as ComMetrics webpages and web-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or On-Demand hosted delivery of My.ComMetrics.com services.

“This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control, T minus 1 hour, 30 minutes and counting…”

Our social media policy was launched a while back and for us it was a big event. If you participate in social media such as creating or contributing to blogs, wikis, social networks, virtual worlds, or any other kind of social media both on and off ComMetrics.com — these guidelines are for you.

All people working as employees or contractors of ComMetrics or CyTRAP Labs GmbH are to understand and follow these guidelines. Failure to do so could put your future participation at risk.

These guidelines will continually evolve as new technologies and social networking tools emerge.

As well, follow all applicable ComMetrics – CyTRAP Labs GmbH policies. For example, do not share confidential or proprietary information about the company and you must maintain client privacy.

Among the policies most pertinent to this discussion are those concerning copyright, disclosure,  privacy and terms and conditions.

Here are the 7 golden rules for using social media (PS. we started with 5 rules but ending up with 7 instead):

1. Please do to others what you would have them do to you: Meaning always be nice, truthful and respect the other individual. Never make fun of, or embarrass others online.
2. Once you post it, you can’t take it back: Besides not using foul language, be aware that an image from a party event posted online from your friend’s mobile phone might haunt you when applying for another job or wanting to get married.
3. Do not reveal too much information: This can violate company-client privilege, open the organization to sanctions, blow a case, destroy any right to a patent (by revealing the information too early), end a trade secret (by revealing the information at all), violate a copyright and do damage in other ways.
It is just as easy to “spill the beans” in a social setting as it is online. Be careful and you will be fine (PS. Thanks to Mitchell Goldstein for suggesting we add this point).
4. Remember that your professional and private lives are linked in cyberspace: Friends and clients will find not only your corporate blog posts, but also your private Facebook page, and they will draw their own conclusions. So, be cautious before putting anything ‘out there’.
5. Engage with others honestly and truthfully: Interact and connect with clients. If you cannot help someone directly regarding any of our services, products and so forth, send them to the appropriate ‘Twitter account’.
6. Check your privacy and security settings: How much data you want to reveal to others such as e-mail or phone number should be set with your security or privacy setting options (e.g., what information do you give on your public profile or to people who are not your Facebook friends).
Be careful which links you visit and make sure all material (images, pdf files) you download are scanned by your PCs anti-virus software (PS. Thanks to Heidi Obschil-Müller for suggesting we add this point).
7. Watch the clock when using social networks: Visiting your personal Facebook page takes time away from getting the ‘real’ tasks done for which you were hired; accordingly, use your time wisely while at work and make your social media engagement beneficial to the company. Please do not let such usage interfere with maintaining your high performance.

This policy is in addition to other existing policies (thanks to James Wong for making this point).

We wish you all the best success with engaging in social and private networks. May it advance your career and in turn assist us in our efforts to provide clients with more value.

More resources about social media marketing and the c-suite:

Intel: Social Media Policy
IBM: Social Computing Guidelines
Enterprise Social Media Usage Policies and Guidelines: non-profit, foundations, governments and other examples
2010-02-03 – Update – Coca-Cola media policy – download 3page pdf file – applies to ‘certified spokespeople’ what about employees and their private Facebook account?
2010-02-27 – Update - 2010-02-26 US Military Social Media Policy

There are now online tools that help you develop a social media policy for ‘any’ company.  For an example, we entered information from our company and the tool generated this policy:

2010-03-05 – Update –  Online tool generated this social media policy for ComMetrics (learn how to get yours in 3 minutes)

BtW:  Get straightforward answers you need to use social media tools more effectively, while saving time and improving your social media tracking and brand monitoring. Benchmark to improve performance right now:

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