A Web 2.0 Warning

By Grae Yohe

…Makovsky + Co., a New York-based public-relations concern, views its field low-risk. Because of that, says Vice President and Director of Human Resources Steve Seeman, the company is comfortable with not constantly checking up on employees, and doesn't do so.

Still, Seeman says, the non-legal risks of social media (damage to the company's brand and the images of its clients) remains a concern. Because of this, the company has a written policy for employees.

"We don't want employees to do anything that could damage a client's reputation," he says, thumbing through a copy of the Makovsky Credo.

Seeman enumerates some of the company's guidelines: "Operate under the assumption that everything you say online will affect the reputation of your colleagues, clients, prospects, company and yourself.  When posting anything in your field that isn't the official Makovsky position, clarify that you're speaking from personal opinion. Carefully consider whether what you're posting would infringe on the privacy of the company or a client."

The challenge is that every single member of our firm is a spokesperson, and that didn't used to be the case," says Seeman, nodding to the way in which Web 2.0 allows pretty much anyone to broadcast pretty much anything to the world.

All people identifying themselves as Makovsky employees, he says, end up speaking for the company, whether they intend to or not.

For this reason, Seeman says, Makovsky simply tries to remind employees what they've always known: to be careful about what comes out of their mouths, because anyone may be listening.

"None of the core principles are new," he says. "Riding a train, you wouldn't loudly speak ill of your clients. The same thing is true in a social community."

While Twitter and Facebook make it easier to spread information, they haven't changed the type of information that is inappropriate to spread. Healthcare workers aren't allowed to discuss private patient data with just anyone, and that remains true online. Employees in financial jobs may violate Securities and Exchange Commission rules if they tell friends about insider information, so telling friends on MySpace is, unsurprisingly, off-limits.

"A lot of this is case-by-case," says Seeman. "We can't have specific dos and don'ts because every case is different. So much of it is common sense. We just have to remind people to watch what they say."…

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