On Thursday of this week, Crystal Peterson, Doe-Anderson’s senior vice-president for human resources, and I will give a talk to the Louisville Advertising Federation called, “I See Your Profile: Your Online Life Has Windows.” The talk is to illustrate to young advertising professionals that they should be participating in social media, but they should also be taking precautions to protect their personal reputation and ensure potential employers are turned off by Googling their name.

Since I have a few days more to prepare, I thought I’d ask all of you to offer thoughts and ideas, particularly if you have some outstanding pictures to go along with an example. (I can’t put my finger on the crack-pipe smoking co-eds I saw on someone’s blog about six months ago. If you have it or know where it is, hit me with a comment and a link!)

Searching around for examples over the weekend, I immediately became thankful image uploading and sharing wasn’t online when I was in college. To my knowledge, all of the images of toga parties, panty raids and bathing in tubs full of Jell-O shots are either burned or hidden away. (I’m kidding … I hate Jell-O.)

Having served the role of potential employer recently, I proved the theory true - I not only Googled everyone I was interested in for the social media manager’s position at Doe-Anderson, but I randomly browsed through MySpaces and Facebooks to see what information I could find. Fortunately, outside of some typical college spring break type pictures of a couple of folks, there was nothing too gratuitous. However, there were a few images that a more conservative manager might have balked at.

Then I started going through the pictures of some of my Facebook friends to see if they had anything bad there. Keep in mind, I used to work as a public relations professional in the athletic departments of several colleges and universities. A good number of my Facebook friends are between the ages of 21-25 — the wheelhouse for flaws in pic posting decorum.

I found two particular individuals (who I’ve reached out to privately) who had what I determined to be fairly inappropriate images for a potential employer to see. One was the said individual drinking a beer - not entirely awful, but again, some folks aren’t as socially liberal as me. The other had a picture of two young ladies, rather scantily clad, dancing with one spanking the other. Again, not horrendous, but not appropriate, either. (And yes, it was a very difficult time reviewing all those spring break pictures. Heh.)

What my adventures browsing told me was that we all need to help educate one another, particularly those of the new generation of professionals, as to what is appropriate and what is not. Sure, we can also just teach people how to privatize their pictures so potential employers can’t see them, but having them there in the first place is the problem. Besides, what’s to prevent one of their friends from allowing people in to see the same picture in their photo stream or even tagging a person in a picture they have nothing to do with?

So if you or someone you know is right out of college or even still a young, 20- or 30-something with an active night life, remind them that their employer or potential employers can probably find a way to see the images, wall posts and public comments or blogs they might have on MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube or more. The best approach is to parse those profiles of questionable images now and keep tabs on our own reputation from here forward (start off with Google Alerts of your name) to ensure anything posted about you anywhere is cool for those hiring to see.

Please pass on your thoughts and suggestions in the comments. Crystal and I will review them as we prepare Thursday’s presentation. And though it won’t be slide heavy, I’ll post it on Slideshare for all to see.

IMAGE: “Shadow” by d-faith-k on Flickr.

Social media marketing is all about businesses having conversations with their customers. In many industries this era is the first in which brands have actually listened rather than trumpeted their hype from the tallest billboards and loudest channels. That listening is opening the eyes of brand managers, CMOs and CEOs everywhere.

Unfortunately, brands sometimes forget to listen internally, though. A recent and very strange personal experience illustrates this point.

On Wednesday of this week, my family stopped at our local Dairy Queen for lunch. We grabbed it to go since our house is less than a mile from the store. When we got home, my wife opened her bacon cheeseburger to add ketchup and exclaimed, “You’ve GOT to be kidding me?!”

There it was … bun, cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, condiments … and that’s all. They forgot the freakin’ hamburger patty.

Blown away at the ineptitude and interested only in making sure I rushed to get my wife’s meal corrected so she could eat, I failed to take a picture of the burger-less burger from DQ. (Shame on me, I know.) I returned to the store moments later where I was met at the counter by the manager.

“My wife ordered a bacon cheeseburger meal with onion rings,” I said. “You guys haven’t gotten the onion rings right in two years of coming here. We’re used to it. But I’d like you to look at the sandwich and tell me if anything looks odd to you.”

He didn’t say a word, turned to the kitchen and calmly said, “There’s no meat on this man’s burger.”

He retrieved a value meal coupon, returned an apologized. He was professional, courteous, etc. Then he said the following:

“It happens every now and then. There’s several different people involved in our assembly process.”

EVERY NOW AND THEN?

“Really?” I said. “How often do you forget to put a burger on someones … um … BURGER?”

“Oh, this is only the second time I’ve seen that happen.”

SECOND TIME?

One time, I can see. The strangest, planets-had-to-be-aligned-just-right thing happened this week at Dairy Queen. But TWICE? Your assembly process doesn’t work.

Listen internally, Dairy Queen. If a manager ANYWHERE says they’ve seen more than one instance of a burger being served without the … um … BURGER, something isn’t working.

IMAGE: “dairy queen” by PinkMoose on Flickr. (Lettering digitally manipulated by J. Falls.)

Technorati Tags: Dairy Queen, hamburgers, customer service, social media, listening

Does your company support your participation in social media? Are you apprehensive about admitting you work there when you comment on blogs, participate in forums or list your workplace or contact information on social networks?

Chances are those of you reading this blog have discussed your social media participation with your employers or you work for yourself, so the questions are more rhetorical than direct. But think about the millions of people out there who either choose to separate themselves from their professional life in online activities or are forced to do so.

Organizations have every right to fear employees identifying themselves as such online, especially if the company doesn’t have a clear communications policy or training for such outreach. The reasons range anywhere from legal issues to inappropriate comments made about competition, other employees or the company itself. Individuals, likewise, have every right to participate in social media outside the office and to keep their work and play lives separate.

But what about the employee who is as proud of working there as anything? What about the companies smart to the fact that their employees are often times their biggest brand enthusiasts and should be let loose on the world wide web to spread the good news?

If you’re laughing at that last possibility, let me assure you there are some.

Earlier this week, I was asked to develop a policy for employee participation in social media. The impetus was because the brand recognizes that people out there are talking about them whether they are participating or not. They not only want to participate, they want to encourage their employees to do so as well. But, like any corporation, they know there must be guidelines. Here are my initial suggestions.

SIX RULES FOR EFFECTIVE EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION IN SOCIAL MEDIA

1. Be honest.
2. Always clearly identify that you work for the company, but don’t necessarily speak for the company.
3. Respect our competition.
4. Never write or say anything you wouldn’t say in front of your boss.
5. When you don’t know, say, “I don’t know, but I’ll try to find out.” Then try to find out and respond.
6. Avoid arguments and direct discussions with those derogatory about the brand. If pressed, direct them to the public relations/customer service department for better information.

None of these are always true for every organization (except the honesty one, in my opinion) but should outline a set of easy-to-understand parameters for employee participation in social media. The question is whether or not this list is enough? Are there other policies that should be included? Are there angles to employee interaction I’ve missed?

Take a brief moment to jump in the comments section and tell me what you think. Should companies allow employees to raise their hand as brand enthusiasts and participate in social networks, blog comments and more? I promise to collect suggestions and repost a polished list of rules next week.

Other Posts You’ll Find Interesting:

1. The Social Media Rift Between Employees And Companies
2. Stifling Social Interaction
3. Does Your Company Support Employee Blogging?
4. Consequences For Not Having A Blogging Policy
5. Social Media Policy: Corporate, Personal Responsibility

IMAGE: “Ashes of Problem Employees” by mio_pls on Flickr.

Technorati Tags: employee policy, social media, social media rules, participation, privacy, personal, professional, social networking

Doug Haslem’s guest article on Media Bullseye, “Social Media and the Changing Nature of Conferences,” is an interesting look into the issue of exclusivity of content in the age of Web 2.0. He offers scenarios and questions concerning our right as citizen journalists, niche network feeders and influencers to report events, meetings, announcements and conferences in domains previously dominated in coverage by traditional media.

I commented on the article, but wanted to open the discussion here as well. Here’s what I had to say:

“Great article, Doug. The one thing that struck me during reading was that exclusive live rights cannot hold under the pressure of an audience of citizen journalists. The law is going to change because of microblogging and mobile technologies.

And it should. As the primary source for an individuals media shifts from mainstream to niche and from traditional to within one’s network, no longer can organizations, events or governing bodies expect to maintain a stranglehold on the rights to what they do.

If you weren’t in the crowd at the NCAA Baseball Regionals here in Louisville last spring and weren’t watching on TV, Brian Bennett was your source for information. This time, the NCAA won. Next time, someone (say Jason Falls) sitting in the crowd and not subject to press box rules, might be Twittering it. As long as people know where to go, the information will get out. And with 5,000 people sitting there, chances are, I won’t be the only one Twittering the event.

It will take a lawsuit and someone willing to fight for our right to be citizen journalists. But we’ll win. Mark my word.

Here’s what I think will evolve over the next 2-5 years as a result of the rise of citizen journalists and niche influencers equipped with texting, Twittering and mobile communications conduits:

1. Conferences, events, governing bodies and companies who are “it-getters” will be lauded by us as such and keep lines of communication (inbound, outbound and sideways) wide open.
2. Conference, events, governing bodies and companies who don’t will see sudden plummets in credibility and popularity unless they devise alternative communications methods which engage the users rather than alienate them. (Keep Twitterers occupied during conferences by ensuring your content is engaging.)
3. Someone, somewhere will be fined, thrown out or otherwise penalized for using his or her cell phone at a baseball game, a convention or a public gathering for a corporation and sue the bejeezus out of the sponsoring agency. With the right attorney, exclusivity will be a thing of the past. He who Tweets fastest will win.

I won’t offer any specific predictions, but my friends will tell you who the plaintiff in No. 3 is most likely to be. I’m just too much of a smartass to stop reporting because some conference official or security guard tells me to. I’ll Twitter until they arrest me, then Twitter that, just to prove a point.

What are your predictions for Web 2.0’s effect on exclusivity and the law. And do you know any good lawyers?

IMAGE: Me Twittering the Baja. Will I be allowed to in the future? (Well, yes. It’s in Mexico. They have no laws there, but that’s not the point.)

Technorati Tags: exclusive rights, exclusivity, media ethics, media law, microblogging, citizen journalism, citizen journalists, Web 2.0, software, revolution

As I pointed out in a previous post, much of the impetus for this blog is an ongoing conversation with Crystal Peterson, Doe Anderson’s Sr. VP and Director of Human Resources, about the deliniation between an employee’s right to have a personal life online and the company’s right to monitor it. While I promise Crystal is preparing a blog post on that and other topics for us to devour, Jeremiah Owyang’s post today offered some advice on trust and the employer/employee relationship. I think it points out a simple, yet effective approach to social media/social networking policy:

1) Companies: Hire the right employees that have integrity, sound business judgment, and know how to communicate both internaly and externally
2) Companies: Trust in these employees to be your ambassadors to the world, give them the benefit of the doubt, and let them self-correct amongst themselves. I also advise instituting internal communication tools to help them, and setting down basic guidelines…often created BY the employees.
3) Employees: Those out in the social sphere should act their best, demonstrate your ability, and try not to embarrass the company. If you do make a mistake, quickly apologize, correct the mistake. Always act in an ethical manner.
4) Social Sphere: That’s everyone else in the world, is to simply recognize the challenges as companies move forward in this new world.

Jeremiah has long been a thought leader in the realm of social media and web strategy, but his ability to cut through the clutter and simplify an issue is why I read him. You can find him at www.web-strategist.com/blog/ or go ahead and subscribe to his RSS Feed here.

Oh, and I’m sure Crystal will chime in with a comment.

IMAGE: From www.pragia.cz