Social media and online company culture
Different companies have their own cultures and not surprisingly the culture also extends to online interactions, including social media. Consequently social media policies that are developed for companies need to consider the culture that the policies are being developed for. For example, in a recent meeting with a community college, it was suggested that instead of having social media policies, it was better to develop social media guidelines. Semantics? Not really and dismissing the word change as a semantic would be dismissing the entire culture of the community college. That’s not a wise move if you really want to understand how they’ll use social media.
For that community college, social media guidelines respected a key belief they have about respecting the authority and autonomy of different departments. By using guidelines, the culture of independence is respected, while at the same time letting those departments know that there are suggested guidelines if they so choose. If we chose to use the word policy, it would sound like we were trying to centralize the different departments, which would go against a community history and culture that values independence, and not just in the departments but also with students in general.
Understanding the company culture and history is essential to understanding how a given company will use social media for both internal and external communications. This means its wise to pay attention to word choice, because it can signal a lot more than just semantic choice. It tells you a lot about the culture and the values that inform the expression of that culture. In turn it effects the social behavior that occurs on social media for better or worse.
Even and perhaps especially in the case of an internal consultant for a company its useful to do some research into the different departments and how they already interact with each other. Understanding the internal politics as well as how companies already approach communication in other mediums can help with the creation of a policy that proactively anticipates potential problems, while also showing respect to the existing culture that’s in place.
Social media policies aren’t developed in a vacuum. The company culture provides perspective, beliefs, and values that define what employees and even customers will do in context to the company. Doing research and learning about the company culture is essential for developing social media policies (or guidelines) that will mesh with the company and provide the needed integration of social media as a viable method of communication.
