[

Rules are interesting. They don't always make sense, but they usually say a lot about the people who invent them.

Rules are the trailing edge of our culture and society. First comes a new disruptive technology. Then people figure out how to use that technology, and naturally settle into commonly accepted practices. Finally, often long after, come policy and law. The sequence never changes: technology, accepted practice, regulation.

Most people know that it is illegal to record someone's voice without their consent. They don't usually know that, in most states, it is legal to videotape people without them knowing. How does this possibly make sense? It's because our statutes came out public outrage over the government wiretap abuses of the 1950s and 1960s, and lawmakers then reacted to the technology they confronted at that point. No one anticipated the rise of affordable, portable videotaping equipment decades later, and its implications on personal privacy. In most places, no one has bothered to close this hole in the law.

Corporate rule-makers don't move at that glacial pace, but they face the same limitations when they try to restrict behavior initiated by disruptive technology. Take for instance the rise of the newest type of corporate governance document: the social media policy.

Our social media lead, Chris Boudreaux, has pulled together the web's largest collection of social media policies. You'll find policies from small companies, enterprises, non-profits, news outlets, and governments. Do a quick pass through some of these and two things emerge: as a group, they are best at protecting against liability and worst at defining exactly what is encouraged or prohibited.

This makes sense. Any attempt to make rules is an exercise in trying to influence complex behavior. Rules work best when they regulate hard lines of behavior: THIS is allowed, THAT is not. Social media is all about soft, blurry lines, the loose, unpredictable interaction of people and ideas. And the technology is so new, and changing so quickly, that organizations are still struggling to understand what it means to them, and what "good" behavior is online.

So organizations do the best they can, pulling together "safe" statements designed to offer legal protection, and adding in some common-sense guidelines on accuracy, transparency, and confidentiality. Dell's Online Communication Policy is typical:

1. Transparency of Origin. Dell requires that employees and other company representatives disclose their employment or association with Dell [...]
   
2. Accurate Information. Dell employees and other company representatives may not knowingly communicate information that is untrue or deceptive. [...]
3. Ethical Conduct. Dell employees and other company representatives will not conduct activities that are illegal or contrary to Dell's Corporate Code of Conduct, Privacy Policy and related policies.
4. Protection of Confidential and Proprietary Information. Dell employees and other company representatives must maintain the confidentiality of information considered Dell company confidential [...]

This type of social media policy certainly has its place, because it does something important: it protects the company. You have it for the same reason you have a sexual harassment policy, or an employee code of respect, or other, similar policies: to codify into binding terms the basic rules of your organization. These policies aren't about educating employees to new things that they don't already know – does anyone really need to be told not to harass a co-worker? – but rather about forcing a level of clarity that protects the company and makes it easy to enforce the rule later.

Much harder to do, but much more interesting, is developing a set of guidelines that look past liability and address your employee's real questions about how to use social media as they do their jobs, promote the brand, and balance their personal and professional lives. Some are getting closer – check out Razorfish's guidelines – but there is still so far to go.

We work with clients to help them find the policy that best serves their needs, and most helps their employees accomplish their goals online. That ideal policy will look different for every organization, and change as your company shifts its participation in social networks over time. While developing this type of policy is hard work, it is worth it… If you haven't examined this area of your business, now is the time to get started!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 11:18 am and is filed under Social Networks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.