How to make the best use of social media @ work

Social media is a strange animal. Everybody we know is on it; everyone thinks everyone else except they waste a lot of time on it; and everyone has their own opinions as to how one should carry oneself out there. Some people want to be the ideal employee; others go to great lengths to hide their connections with their company. But all of us may agree on a couple of basic facts:

a) Social media is here to stay, and

b) We’re doing more harm than good, as individuals or as an organisation, if we ignore social media.

The question here, then, is how do we make good use of an opportunity? Let’s step back for a moment, shed the being employee skin from ourselves, and look at ourselves as people. Individuals with jobs, with families, with friends, classmates, and colleagues.

Human beings with our own emotions, ambitions, achievements and egos. With the same urge to communicate, the same urge to share, the same urge to learn – either as individuals or groups of people. All 2,50,000 (and counting) of us are part of the rest of the world, and we are beginning to live a substantial part of our lives online.

The trick is to balance this out—utilize it, yet not be consumed by it. It calls for some amount of discipline and thought, but generally, for the most part—it’s fun.
So, if you haven’t started your journey, what are you waiting for?
Let’s see what are the “social media essentials”?

a) A LinkedIn profile: As of last count, 1,33,000 of us are on LinkedIn.com. If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile, it may be good to build one, and this is usually a good starting point for your personal online presence. A few tips:

• Be cognizant of the information you share as part of your profile. Avoid client names and details, and details of your project. Emphasize your expertise by citing your domain knowledge, skill sets, attributes and years, but refrain from anything that could divulge details of your clients or your projects.
• Be factually correct and honest in your profile. Don’t add qualifications or experiences that you cannot quantify. Remember Scott Thompson, the ex-CEO of Yahoo? It’s tempting to write that fancy job title or fake a certificate or two, but remember, if you lose your integrity online, it’s pretty much irretrievable
• Connect with other employees of your organisation you know on LinkedIn, and follow the company page, if any, to get updates about recent happenings.
• Feel free to share news and knowledge links that are published on our company page, among your network.
• Avoid using direct company name in your name and company logos or branding on your individual display picture (DP) or if you are running a group, ensure that you don’t use official branding things.
• Besides news and updates from the company website, it may be a good idea to share links of professional and business interest on your LinkedIn profile.

b) A blog: Blogging is a bit like school—very easy to get into (your parents took all the trouble—you just had to go there!), but very tough to sustain and get out of. It takes a few minutes to set up your own blog, but it takes several hours a week to maintain it, keep it relevant, and build it. It’s not easy and isn’t for everyone.

But if you are an expert in your area, and have knowledge to share, it is one of the most fulfilling pursuits that you can do entirely online. A blog may not be related to your subject of professional expertise at all—you could well write a blog on your hobbies and interests. The important thing is to be passionate about it.

There are many free blogging platforms available— you could choose between WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Posterous and others. If you are blogging on areas closely related to organisations’ business interests, ensure that you disclose your organisation association, and have a suitable disclaimer.

Some pro-tips:

a. Prepare well – decide clearly what your subject would be, and more importantly, what you would not be writing about. Create a calendar, if possible. Analyze various blogging platforms—look at the themes available, try them out and chose what fits your subject. Study other bloggers and if possible, interact with them.

b. Research your topic well and be original in your content - particularly if you are blogging about areas of professional interest. It pays to say less and be original and interesting, rather than to say more and be meaningless.

c. Do not succumb to the SEO + adwords trap - there are quite a large number of bloggers who churn out garbage to ensure that their blogs are found by users who search for particular keywords and then gain income by adwords. This is called content farming. Your reputation erodes rapidly and you could even be blacklisted by search engines.

d. When you are talking of areas which are of professional interest, closely related to your work at your organisation, ensure that you do not reveal any confidential or business data related to the company or its clients.

e. Do not write disparagingly about our competitors. Try to be neutral, and subject-oriented.

f. Invest time in networking with bloggers of common interest. Comment on their blog posts, invite them to yours. Use a Twitter handle, a Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+ profile to communicate new updates to your social network.

g. Be conscious of copyright and IP related rules and guidelines. Always give a link and name your sources/ references.

h. Be patient. The benefits of blogging are best seen after years.

c) A Facebook profile: Most of us are already on Facebook. A lot of us use Facebook as one of the methods to keep in touch with classmates, family and friends, and sometimes our colleagues at work. Our activity there is usually leisurely—we post pictures, fun status updates, have conversations and comments on our friends’ activities, share links and more. It’s a great place to spend your free time. There are privacy concerns, but there are enough safeguards—you are only as safe or unsafe as the information you share online.

While having all this fun and a good time, a few basic tips in etiquette out there:

• While posting pictures, ensure that you don’t tread on anyone else’s right to privacy. If you are taking a group picture or a party picture, it is best to k eep others informed that you’re likely to post these on Facebook. It’s a good habit, which keeps you out of trouble.
• Ensure that you don’t post embarrassing pictures of others. While you may find some situations funny, others may not have your sense of humor.
• Don’t post any copyright material anywhere online, and most definitely not on Facebook. What’s the fun in that? The real thrill is in being original and owning all the likes, oohs and aahs that you may get from your friends.

d) Twitter account: The social network that is often credited with enabling revolutions—the Arab Spring, for example—forcing governments to repeal laws—the SOPA and ACTA laws in the US—is however, used and populated by a fraction of the crowd that Facebook attracts. Twitter is also the favourite of many brands and organisations—the crisp 140 character format enables participants to spread messages effortlessly and helps in customer service management, broadcasting of messages and engaging with target audience.

It is also the network scientists delight in, as it often resembles real-life human web of information—it predicted the Haiti Cholera outbreak a few days before it actually happened. The nature of Twitter also allows it to be used as a barometer for public reaction to messaging, either by corporate, or by celebrities or governments.

Die-hard Twitter enthusiasts will swear by it—it’s a fun place to be and there’s rarely a dull moment. There’s a lot of randomness and serendipity since you are more likely to meet new friends on Twitter than on Facebook or even LinkedIn, where you connect with those you anyway know already.

If you are inclined to plunging in, do so. Some tricks to maximize the benefits
of Twitter:

• Like it is expected in all human interaction, be polite, courteous and tolerant of others’ views and opinions.
• Avoid badmouthing any person or organisation on Twitter, including your own, and also your competitors.
• Seek out people with whom you have common interests, follow them, interact with them and be of mutual help. There are quite a lot of technical and domain-related experts you can find on Twitter. It’s one of the few places where you could talk to a head of state, a film celebrity, and a tech geek in practically the same minute.
• If you are an expert in a particular domain, related to technology, business or just a hobby, Twitter is one of the best places to “be found”. Work out a plan, be consistent with your tweets, be interactive, learn the game—and substantially enhance your online profile.

Besides these “foundation” social media networks, there are quite a few others which may be less generic and more interest-oriented, such as Flickr, for photo-sharing, YouTube for videos, Quora, for a Q&A-based networking. There’s also Google+, which has shown a growth spurt in the recent months. It seems to be a fairly hot space for the tech blogger and the tech journalist.

There’s a world out there, waiting to
be explored. Go on, live, and love your online life.

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