You undoubtedly have heard that you need to create a Social Media policy for your company. Why? Because if you don’t your employees won’t know best how to use Social Media. The won’t know what they should and should not say, and how/where they should say it. They might also say something that will make your company liable. They could tweet out something that is considered immoral in the name of your company brand. So the solution is to create a Social Media policy so employees know the rules.

B.S. And I’ll tell you why.

I was approached by a local PR firm several months ago and asked to give my input on updating a company’s policy regarding internet usage. They wanted to know what verbiage they should add to the policy in regards to Social Media. My response was an emphatic “Do not put the words social media anyplace in your communications policy”. “Social Media” is a generic phrase like “Web 2.0″ that has no concrete definition. It is one of those phrases that will cause you to split hairs if there are ever legal implications and the courts get involved. People say blogging is Social Media. Is it? If blogging is Social Media then why is just a regular website not considered social media? Twitter is Social Media? Really? If it is then IRC is definitely Social Media – and that has been around a lot longer. Ask someone for a definition of Social Media and a large number of people will go to Wikipedia and regurgitate what you see there. It is not a quantifiable or measurable item. It is a concept. (And I love it like the next guy). But if you ever get into a discussion with me on the medium you will notice that I shy away from the terms “Social Media” and “Web 2.0″ because I prefer to speak in concrete terms that I can identify and that mean something to you when I am talking to you. If say “blog” you know what a “blog” is. If I say “Social Media based video platform” that might mean two different thing to each of us.

What should you be doing instead? You should be schooling your employees on the right and wrong use of all communication tools – whether or not they are on paper or online. If you say “Don’t send out company secrets by any method – online or otherwise” you have something that you can measure against. Did employee A sent out something via (Twitter/Facebook/Blog/Some other online means that is coming in 2012) ? If so everybody (even a caveman) knows that that is “online”. The employee is then busted to the curb. You make your policy cover “Social Media/Electronic Media/Web 2.0″ in more of a general fashion so then you are not constantly racing against technology.

The rules about what you do and do not say as a representative of your company really do not change whether you scream it out the window, you copy a confidential memo and give it to the press, or you post the company confidential scandal on your facebook status. The law of common sense must constantly be taught and reiterated. Write a good strong policy (with assistance from the proper legal counsel), don’t include the latest buzzwords, and you will set you and your company up for long term coverage and success?

I’d love to hear your feedback below.
(Much love out to Carrie Corbin - http://twitter.com/thealphafemme - for a healthy discussion on the topic)