Talk It Up!

New survey: 54% of CIOs ban social media

In a new study conducted by Robert Half Technology,54% of 1,400 Chief Information Officers interviewed report banning social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook at work.

Interestingly, 19% of respondents reported that the sites would be allowed "for business purposes only", while 16% permitted access for "limited personal use."

CIOs were asked, “Which of the following most closely describes your company’s policy on visiting social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, while at work?” Their responses:

In a blog post commenting on the study, AtlanTech blogger Urvaksh Karkaria commented, "I can understand the corner office's concerns with employees tweeting about the tuna at lunch or Monday night's Packers-Vikings game, on the company’s dime."

I can't.

This type of fearful view is short-sighted and shows a lack of understanding of how human beings connect both in real life and in a Web 2.0 world online. What is the difference between using Facebook "for business purposes only" and "for limited personal use"? The urge to make the distinction shows a gap in knowledge of modern work habits. These days, work and life aren't "balanced;" they are integrated. We check on our kids and check the game scores in the office, and we also use our iPhones to check email in the evenings from the game. We log into Facebook at home and talk about the company, and we log into Facebook at work and chat about our kids and pets.

For every study that has shown a decrease in productivity when social networking sites are permitted at work (such as the Nucleus Research study from July showing that companies who allowed access to SNS such as Facebook showed a 1.5% drop in productivity), there are no concurrent studies to show that during those same weeks, employees logged into the server from home over the weekend. No one has done studies to show those same employees chatting up clients, leads and potential employees at dinners, cocktail events and other live social networking events.

For those who separate personal life and work, the argument in favor of allowing employees access to social networking sites can be unclear. "Is it for work?" they might ask. Consider this: an employee of Zappos has a Facebook account. She logs in a few times a day to chat with friends or to post funny articles. She also mentions how much she loves her job or what a kick she got out of a customer service interaction.

Were the logins "for business purposes" or "limited personal"? The question is irrelevant, because the person posting the updates is a fully integrated human being with a range of interests and passions.

Business Is Personal

One of the major benefits of using services such as Twitter and Facebook, as businesses such as Zappos, Starbucks and Comcast have discovered, is that participation by real human beings in social networks puts a human face on a company. Comcast doesn't Twitter; Frank Eliason does. Brad Nelson shares his passion for coffee and tidbits about his own life on Starbucks' Twitter account. Are the Tweets about his life "personal" while the rest are "business"? No. These days, business is personal. 

Whom do you trust?

Last year's Edelman Trust Barometer indicated that only 29% of respondents indicated they would trust information coming directly from the company CEO, down from 36% the previous year. Only 13% said they would trust product advertising (down from 20%), and 44% said they would trust information printed in an article in a business magazine (down from 57%).

The reasons for the lack of trust vary, but they all have to do with the fact that people don't know your CEO. They don't know him personally. Maybe if they did, they might trust his words, but most of us don't. Same with product advertising or the writer of those business magazine articles--the audience doesn't know those people and so has less reason to trust their communications.

However, the stream of information available about a person via Twitter or Facebook is much more accessible and more likely to give an overall idea of who a person is and what she cares about. Product advertising can be faked, but an entire Facebook presence will give a good overview of the account holder as a fully-integrated human being.

Tweeting about the tuna at lunch or the Vikings-Packers game gives followers an insight into the human interests of the account holder. And that type of information, mixed with information about the company experience, provides a solid foundation of trust that can be lacking in other corporate communications.

How much Facebook is too much Facebook?

Dave Willmer, executive director of Robert Half Technology, acknowledged that “Professionals should let common sense prevail when using Facebook and similar sites -- even outside of business hours,” he said. "Regrettable posts can be a career liability."

Let's ignore the burglar who was caught because he logged in to Facebook during the robbery (did he post a status update, "Robbing this guy's house," one wonders), and consider whether social networking sites can indeed affect productivity. For some, surely this is the case. Willmer offers some basic common-sense guidelines for SNS use as an alternative to banning the sites all together:

• Know what’s allowed. Make sure you understand and adhere to your company’s social networking policy.
• Use caution. Be familiar with each site’s privacy settings to ensure personal details or photos you post can be viewed only by people you choose.
• Keep it professional. Use social networking sites while at work to make connections with others in your field or follow industry news -- not to catch up with family or friends.
• Stay positive. Avoid complaining about your manager and coworkers. Once you’ve hit submit or send, you can’t always take back your words -- and there’s a chance they could be read by the very people you’re criticizing.
• Polish your image. Tweet or blog about a topic related to your profession. You’ll build a reputation as a subject matter expert, which could help you advance in your career.
• Monitor yourself. Even if your employer has a liberal policy about social networking, limit the time you spend checking your Facebook page or reading other people’s tweets to avoid a productivity drain.

To that I'd add "be personable without being too personal." Don't use Facebook or Twitter as a place to rant or criticize in a way that you'll be ashamed of the next day, no matter what the situation. Share interesting personal snippets of your life as well as your passions for your work. And if you're finding that it's 4:30 and you still haven't answered your email, it might be time to step away from Facebook and focus on your daily tasks instead.

Fun Facebook Facts

Image via CrunchBase

Facebook has rapidly become one of the most popular social networking sites. It grew by 276% in 2008. It has surpassed even Flickr as the most popular photo-sharing site online, with over 15 billion photos being shared. And the fastest-growing demographic on Facebook? Women over 55, who typically use the site to keep in touch with their children and grandchildren.

Facebook is growing and changing every day, and the way that people use it is growing and changing as well. If you're curious about who exactly is using Facebook and how, check out this nifty site: CheckFacebook.com. 

A few fun facts from the site:

1. About half the site's users are aged 18-34
2. The three fastest-growing countries on Facebook are Taiwan, Ghana and Indonesia
3. After the U.S. and the U.K., the country with the largest Facebook participation is Turkey
4. The country with the highest percentage of the population on Facebook is Venezuela, at 63.27%

These stats aren't just interesting; hopefully, they'll help us make the case for Facebook. Or even pave the way for the next new social media tool, whatever it may be.

Thoughts?

How personal is your persona--on Facebook?

With the explosion of social media into the public space (even my mother has discovered Facebook), there is now a constantly-burning question, especially for those who use social media to highlight their professional accomplishments: how personal is too personal?

HarvardBusiness published an article last month asking the question, What does your Facebook profile say about you? and delves into the constantly blurring line between the personal and the professional. When companies first started blocking Facebook in 2007, business blogger and podcaster Shel Holtz criticized the move, citing (among other) objections the now-emerged trend of work-life integration. He argues against the productivity objection, saying:

Most employees will not risk their jobs to screw around online. If they spend an hour online for non-work-related purposes, they’ll put in an extra hour to get the job done. That hour may be spent doing work at home, but on the other hand, employees are routinely expected to take work home with them. That’s the nature of work-life integration: If you expect me to do work at home, then I expect the employer to tolerate me engaging in non-work activities at work. The measure of productivity is the amount of output created.

And the Harvard article asks the question: why would offer personal information online, anyway?, quickly followed by the salient answer: "Sharing personal information further humanized people whose roles may otherwise make them seem remote or inaccessible." Just look at Frank Eliaison's Twitter team humanizing customer service for Comcast or GM's Fastlane blog to find out how big business can reach out to the public in a real and transparent way and succeed in chipping away at its monolithic image.

Still, this is inevitably the first question I'll field from participants at a Facebook for Business session: isn't that just for your family and friends? And this will be followed by: how much personal information should we disclose? how personal is too personal? is it OK to post pictures of my dog?

Image by zedzap via Flickr

The answer: work and life are becoming integrated. More and more, in the office we show ourselves as complete human beings, with both a passion for our work and a passion for our hobbies and family life. And as "workplace" is becoming defined no longer just as the office cubicle but also as the seat in the airport terminal, the table at the local coffee shop, the iPhone in the car before the meeting, the home office and the Tweetup networking event, the line between the professional profile and the personal profile has grayed as well.

General advice for your Facebook profile:

• Be yourself. Show your hobbies. Post your photography, your dog winning the second place ribbon at the dog show, your favorite campsite at Yellowstone.
• Have an opinion. Whitewashing is for fences. You don't have to be a jerk to give an opinion; if you create a space that invites and engenders informed discussions, you're more likely to build an engaged network than to make real enemies.
• Share your passion for your work (without giving away company secrets). Let your passion for your work show in a real and daily way. Passion begets passion, and as the Harvard article points out, "Seeing a more rounded person can't help but extend and develop professional relationships, furthering the trust that's crucial to collaborative knowledge creation--the lifeblood of innovation"
• Don't post anything you wouldn't want your grandmother, boss or shareholders to see. An open-door policy doesn't mean everyone gets to root around in your closet. Post photos from the company picnic, but leave out the one where the boss looks a bit tipsy. Mention you are enjoying client challenges, but don't mention the client by name. Share video of your family trip to the Poconos, but keep the second honeymoon to Bermuda private.

What about you? What advice would you give to professionals looking to Facebook as a way to reach out and get engaged?

DSSP #110: Promoting Your Brand with Facebook Pages

Show Notes for Diary of a Shameless Self-Promoter #110: Promoting Your Brand with Facebook Pages

Coming up on this week's show: curious about how to use Facebook Pages or Groups to promote your brand, especially after the redesign? Get the lowdown here.

Direct download is here.

00:00 Introduction

Welcome to DSSP! Send comments to OUR COMMENT EMAIL: shamelesscomments@gmail.com, call 206-209-0806 and be sure to check the Talk It Up! blog. Sounders are graciously provided by BuzzCutzAudio.com. If you're interested in podcasting, check out all the free resources at www.podcastingprincess.com.

Announcements

Check out 10 Social Media Things in 10 Minutes talk

2:25 Topic: Promoting Your Brand with Facebook Pages

I've been blogging a bit more lately, about DimDim open source webinar software; Susan Mernit's guest blog post about the Knight News Challenge case study in using social media for a not for profit

Facebook Groups vs Pages and how to use them--for more info, check out the original post here

15:50 Listener Feedback

Michael Procopio--the title for the Internet Writing special edition didn't match the content; Simon commented on DSSP #108: Best Practices for Twitter and asked for thoughts on TwitterFeed

22:20 Wrap-up

Why not recommend Diary to a friend? Send the link via email and spread the word! Visit us at Blubrry.com; email Heidi at shamelesscomments@gmail.com and don't forget to visit the show blog, Talk It Up! during the week, for articles and updates. Thanks for listening!

Facebook's New Pages: Biggest benefits

Big shout out to C.C. Chapman and The Advance Guard for publishing this great new white paper on the new Facebook Pages and their capabilities. It's quite timely, as I've recently been exploring the intricacies of using Facebook more for cross-marketing, promotion and social networking on behalf of clients. In fact, most of the research showed that there wasn't a big difference between Pages and Groups, which was my burning question.

At that time (way back last week), updates to Facebook Pages stayed on the Page--they didn't go directly to Fans' inboxes or appear on their Walls. Fortunately, Facebook just changed all of that (a few days after all my research--go figure!), making Pages a lot more social and a lot more conversational.

So I dug into the white paper gleefully, devouring it and making notes on my flight to meet with a client in Seattle. My summary:

• The biggest benefit: now your actions (updates, photo & video posts, etc. ) appear in your Fans' feeds as if you were a Friend
• Best quote: "Brands MUST be social--creating content, sharing status updates, posting photos, hosting events and making regular contributions to the Community"
• Best new feature: tabs
  • Wall (first tab): now the landing page and most valuable real estate
  • Info (2nd tab) : second most valuable
  • Boxes: now act as a kind of sidebar, like in a blog
  • Each tab has its own URL, so great for promotion
  • Content from all tabs now visible to non-FaceBook users

There is also a wealth of information on how to perceive the Wall, the Info tab and how to best take advantage of Photos and Videos. In short, Pages now function a lot more like Groups and enable a lot more highly visible conversation with your Fans. I'm not sure if there is any truth to the rumor that Facebook is phasing out Groups; seems like it would be a shame if they did. I mean, Pages are fantastic for businesses, not for profits and brands, but we don't really want to lose I Love Thin Mints or Thank You Joss Whedon, do we?

The Skinny on Facebook Groups vs. Brand Pages

Image via CrunchBase

As we all become more and more addicted to Facebook, the swirling community vortex has fantastic opportunities for connections and for viral marketing. But as I was creating podcast and fan pages, I ran across a stumbling block: should I make a Facebook brand Page as the official representative of the organization, or would it be better to create a Facebook Group, which seemed somehow more democratic and viral?

Short conclusion: why not create both? Asking which is better, a Facebook group or brand Page is kind of like asking, should I blog or should I Twitter? That is, is there really a compelling reason not to be everywhere you possibly can?

That being said, there are some differences in functionality for Groups and Pages. A quick compiled list based on some great articles (links below). Here's the skinny:

Brand Pages
Must be created by an official representative of the organization.

Benefits:

• Public; can be viewed even if you’re not a Facebook member
• Public; indexed and searchable by Google
• Can advertise via Facebook social ads
• Easy to add and leverage Facebook applications
• Allows unlimited number of fans
• Visitor stats provided
• Can create events

Disadvantages:

• Notifications stay on the Page, NOT to the members’ inboxes, and many members don’t check back
• Changes to Pages don’t show up in newsfeed

Groups
Anyone can create about darn near anything.

Benefits:

• Discussions are public and searchable by Google
• Automatically links to related groups
• Updates go straight to members’ inboxes
• Can create events

Disadvantages:

• 5,000 fan limit for messaging
• Facebook applications can’t be added
• No visitor stats

So... which is better?

While there has been a lot of discussion as to whether Groups or Pages are more viral, the general consensus is that because anyone can create and participate in a group, they do seem to grow more rapidly and organically. And the biggest advantage of Groups by far is the ability to message all members (well, up to 5,000) directly to their inboxes; Groups are much better for direct communication because of that feature.

However, all that being said, there isn’t much of an argument against having both a brand Page and a Group as well; there’s no reason to choose one or the other. Organizations should have both, like having a mailing list as well as a blog.

How to use Groups

If you are going to start a Group, Social Media Explorer has these great tips on Best Practices, including:

• Have more than one admin
• Use your Group to promote live Events
• Decide on frequency of communication
• Choose how much and which content to moderate
• Read Patrick O’Keefe’s Managing Online Forums (I’ve read it ; he is exhaustive in its coverage)

And finally, David Meerman Scott, author of World Wide Raves, has a great case study on using a Facebook Group to promote an event. A Group started three months before the Singapore Tattoo Show became the de facto mailing list and conversation starter, generating three times the expected attendance (15,000 attendees)!

My recommendations:

• Create a Facebook Group and invite all your interested friends
• Allow members to invite their friends
• Message Group members no more than five times a month
• Post photos, videos, etc. from your live events
• Commit time to following Wall conversation in Group
• Use Group to promote live events both before and after
• Create a Facebook Page for your organization
• Cross-post video, photos, etc. to your Page
• Use social ad to advertise your Page
• Anything you'd add to this list?

More reading:

Successful Facebook Groups
The Group Dilemma from the Facebook blog
Search Engine Journal on Pages vs. Groups
Facebook group discussions are public and searchable
Facebook Group and Brand Page Best Practices
Facebook Page or Facebook Group?
How to use Facebook Group to promote event—case study