I remember several years ago raising an issue on Twitter about corporate usage policies and received a lot of resistance about creating any policy for an open dialogue and open community. Maybe at the time I had a surly group of idealistic followers, but their replies strongly reflected that there should be no policy to disrupt or direct an authentic conversation. So maybe two years ago, there were more idealists wanting to hold on to the openess and interchange now afforded by micro-blogging services, like Twitter.
But, as Twitter and the community evolves and grows, there's more discussion about what is the "right" corporate policy for employees engaging in Social Media.
This week, BusinessWeek, posts the question, "What's the right corporate policy for Twitter, Facebook and blogs?"
The post looks at the Wall Street Journal's "conduct rules" for Twitter, the New York Times policy for social media usage and the BBC guidelines for personal use of Social Networking and other third party websites, to name a few.
Interestingly, this post leads to an excellent series of posts on Social Media from "A Twitter Code of Conduct" to an interesting video on how BusinessWeek's Executive Editor John A Byrne uses Twitter.
The best take away is the golden rule for users: "Don't be dumb." In more professional organizational terms, a good Twitter policy reflects a give and take and a matter of mutual trust and respect between employer-employee to do and say the right thing. The common-sense approach recommended is: "don't say anything you wouldn't say to your mom."
That is a good place to start.
Twitter + Common Sense = Good Policy
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