The Consequences of Careless Social Media Use
Social media has created a fantastic world of opportunities for networking, interaction and sharing. It has also created a whole new set of consequences for people who don’t fully think-through their actions.
My colleague Shelly Kramer and I were interviewed over a dust-up here in Kansas City (which has gone national) over Facebook photos featuring a medical student and a placenta. Bad judgment on the part of the students and an unclear social media policy (see Shelly’s comments on that serious issue) at Johnson County Community College have culminated in a PR mess.
We were asked to weigh in about the potentially negative consequences of social media as well as corporate and personal crisis communications:
Shelly Kramer, founder of v3 Integrated Marketing says that a social media policy should be a part of the employee handbook, much like a company dress code.
“If its not appropriate for us to take pictures while we’re at work, if its not appropriate for us to be on Facebook while we’re at work, we need to spell those things out for people,” said Kramer, who says that such a policy is for any type of business or school. “Young people go everywhere with these devices in their hands, and everything they do they document.”
Kramer says a company’s legal team can find a balance between broad and specific guidelines for the social media policy. And it should be updated or revisited every six months as technology changes.
Public relations expert Alex Greenwood agrees with setting a policy because Tweeting and status updates are now such common practices.
“Nine times out of 10, I think folks who do that are completely oblivious to any consequences whatsoever, because nine times out of 10 there are no consequences,” said Greenwood of Alexander G. Public Relations.
Greenwood says that the Johnson County Community College nursing student who posted a picture of herself and a placenta from a class is a perfect example of someone who didn’t realize the possible consequences.
“This is going to be with these young ladies,” said Greenwood.
As I said, most of the time actions made in bad judgment on Facebook, Twitter or anywhere else online goes virtually unnoticed. But there’s always the chance that something that seemed harmless (or was given less thought than what you’d order at Burger King) at the time will become fodder for an incident that could ruin a career or even a life.
What didn’t make it to the broadcast was my assertion that though this would indeed “be with these young ladies” for a long time, I believe a proper amount of contrition, time and perspective could leaven its effects. Examples of this include Tiger Woods, Gov. Mark Sanford, Toyota and just about any tabloid-addled celeb you can name.
However, this takes a concerted effort on both sides to get past this as soon as possible. If the college and the students can agree that there were mistakes made on both sides–and if the students can be allowed to complete their educations–this can be overcome. However, if it becomes a damaging, drawn-out legal battle played out in the media, it can become a scarlet letter for the students and a black eye for the school.
The public attention span can be mercifully short. This episode is clearly damaging to these students and the school, but it’s not insurmountable. Reasonable efforts to make amends on both sides will make it go away. Further acrimony will create sensationalism and it will soon be out of their control.
