A Social Media Primer

It's always easier to join a conversation than start one.

What makes Social Media social?

Interactive Mobile Conversational Flexible Accessible Personal Constant

3 R’s of Social Media Reading Writing Relationships

Be good Be transparent Be smart Make good friends Protect your privacy Use good passwords Manage your identity Have a social media policy

Hands on PR & Social Media Crafting a Social Media Policy

Personal vs Public Can you really separate them?

Nickname

Personal Details

Pictures

Risk of exposure

Risque behavior, language

Real Name

Anonymity

Images

Limited liability

Clean Living

Personal Social Media Policy

1. Connecting: Introduce yourself and tell me why you want to connect

[Would you like an introduction from new follows? Would you like them to answer a particular question about their interest in connecting? Define it here]

2. Follow, add, friend

[Your polices around friending, following and adding. For example, if people follow/friend you do you automatically reciprocate? Or do you prefer to evaluate the value of a contact over time? State it here, loud and clear]

3. Privacy, boundaries and safety

[Define your privacy/boundaries for friends, coworkers and family. Everybody has different ideas about what's "too much information." Friends, family and business associates have different ideas about who you are. While you may not be able to control what's said about you, you can certainly ask your network to be mindful of your limits]

4. Signal to noise

[Do you have any strong feelings about the kind of social media experience you seek (or don't)? For example, do you have a problem with people using RSS in their Twitter? Do you get annoyed by multiple status updates? Make that clear here (so people aren't surprised when you unfollow them - or vice versa)]

5. Personal data and sharing

[What's all this sharing about? (for you) Are you looking to connect more deeply according to shared interests, ideologies, professional goals?]

6. My networking needs and uses

[How is your use of Facebook different from your use of Linkedin different from your use of Twitter different from your use of MySpace? What are your specific networking purposes or goals for each?]

1925-1941 Silent Generation 1942-1953 Baby Boomers 1954-1965 Generation Jones primarily the offspring of the Silent Generation, and the parents of Generation Y. 1964-1979 Generation X Most of this generation are children of The Baby Boomers and The Silent Generation. 1980-1997 Generation Y also known as, Millennials the Echo Boom, and the First Digitals. These are usually the children of Generation Jones. growing up with many world-changing events including the rise of mass communication, the Internet, and the War on Terror. 1997-present Generation Z "Generation V" (for virtual), "Generation C" (for community, content or cell phone), "The New Silent Generation", the "Internet Generation", and "Gen @." Active consumers, very connected, being born into a world of digital technology

Why Care About Gen Y?

Generation Y

approximately 75 million U.S. residents

Gen X’ers

40 million

Baby Boomers

82 million strong

Recommendations to Organizations

Develop an understanding of online social networks and their role in the culture and communication behaviour of young Canadians – your customers and your employees

Develop clear rules and guidelines about the use of online social networks at work and at home based on principles that employees will accept

Support these policies with appropriate tools and enforcement

Do not actively seek information from online social networks for recruitment and selection processes, and if access to such information is obtained, refrain from using it

Ensure that uses of online social networks or the information obtained from them to fulfill marketing goals and objectives are in compliance with PIPEDA

-Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson U.

Use Social Media OFFENSIVELY, not DEFENSIVELY

find job applicants

encourage conversation

Engage customers

Collaborate

Create evangelists

research job applicants

Control conversation

Sell customers

lecture

Create drones

Trust vs Control

Concerns about Social Media in Workplace?

Employees will say bad things about the organization (sponsors, vendors, customers, etc.);

Customers/constituents will say bad things about the organization (sponsors, staff, vendors, etc.);

Employees will tell secrets.

Employees don’t need social media to say bad things:— every time they talk to a customer, deal with a member, gab with a vendor, or work with a sponsor, you are trusting them to represent you and your brand responsibly, with discretion and integrity.

If you haven’t hired people you can trust to behave like responsible adults, then there is a deeper problem.

Social media works around relationships, not transactions.

School district leaders seem to believe that negative experiences with social networking are more common than students and parents report. For example, more than half of districts (52 percent) say that students providing personal information online has been “a significant problem” in their schools, yet only 3 percent of students say they’ve ever given out their e-mail addresses, instant messaging screen names or other personal information to strangers. Similar differences occur between districts’ beliefs and students’ and parents’ reported experiences with inappropriate material, cyberbullying and other negative incidents.