- Industries
- Solutions
- Partnerships
- Purchase Courses
- Resource Center
- About Us
- Contact Us
Why Your Company Needs a Social Media Policy
The Dangers of New Media
It’s no secret that widespread use of social media by employees and customers brings with it both risk and opportunity. Just a few careless keystrokes or rogue video can wreak havoc, as these examples attest:
In 2009, Cisco found itself in the middle of a public relations storm when Connor Riley tweeted, “Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.” A Cisco employee saw the post and passed it along to the company’s hiring manager. Riley did not find a future with Cisco, but she did find 15 minutes of fame on MSNBC, hundreds of blogs and newspaper articles from Oregon to Florida. Cisco saw its corporate policies and brand become hot topics in the same media.
Cisco’s discomfort was nowhere near the headache created when Ketchum Vice President James Andrews insulted Memphis on his way to meet with FedEx, a client that paid Ketchum millions of dollars annually for communications services. Small problem: Memphis is FedEx’ home town. When FedEx employees read the post and mailed it to management, the outfall was predictable. FedEx launched unhappy emails, Ketchum and Andrews issued apologies and the blog world weighed in with opinions that hit Andrews for the original post and FedEx for what was seen by many as a heavy-handed response.
