Social Media Murk

This afternoon I stumbled across this great little tool that helps outline the issues and impacts of defining soft media guidelines in the workplace. Truth be told, this is murky landscape for most organizations to tackle and it’s hard for a lot of folks to get their head around issue, especially when it comes to policies & procedures.

Personally, I like to think of policies and procedures as being separate and different from guidelines for personal social networking best practices. Both have there place, but serve the needs the organization differently.

Policies and practices help to define the organization’s parameters for engaging in social media channels. Guidelines help to provide best practices for individuals who engage in social media channels on their own behalf while employed by the business. The line between these two is thin -- There’s no doubt about it. And, of curse there are lots of issues to consider -- which is why I like that companies such as IBM and Sun Systems have taken great strides in providing good guidelines while walking the tight rope.

At CIL this past week, I attended at least two talks that “murked” a bit around this topic a bit and discovered that most libraries, like my own, were still struggling with defining the issues that made up these cloudy waters. If you're among these (myself included), then I might recommend looking at this great resource - which helps you not only identify many of the questions to ask, but to also understand some of the implications for yes and no responses. Very helpful indeed!



PS: If you know of a library (perhaps even your own) or non-profit organization who’s already tackled this issue, I’d love to know. Please leave a comment and /or link.

Thx.

signed Swimming :)

PPS: Please be advise that this blog does have it's own disclaimer (see my sidebar) And yes, I consider this a "best practice" personally.

" * Disclaimer: This blog is maintained for the purpose of sharing information related to libraries and technology. The views and opinions published in this blog are my own and are not endorsed by my employer."