Social media guidelines for Intel
Posted by Alecia OBrien on Fri, Jun 26, 2009
Recently on the ZDNet blog,
Jason Hiner of TechRepublic wrote "
Intel Publishes Social Media Guidelines for its Employees." He discussed the recent release of these
guidelines and what it means for Intel:
"The companies that figure out the right balance (skewed more toward openness) and train their employees appropriately have an opportunity to use social media to leapfrog in the market because they will be able to create stronger relationships with customers."
Social media outreach needs to include every corporate employee - still, business leaders are hesitant to relinquish control, and trust employees to represent the brand accurately. A clear set of guidelines is the solution to combat those fears - for organizations and individuals alike.
Intel's protocol is fairly simple, but even more importantly - it is reasonable, humane, and is the first step to real brand advocacy. Like Intel, IBM also chose to publish these rules, called 'Social Computing Guidelines', which lets consumers and stakeholders understand their corporate culture. Both an excellent example of corporate transparency.
Other companies, like Microsoft and Google, took a different approach and said, "Blog Smart" or "Don't be Evil." Each works in its own way - the only necessity is a mutually empathetic understanding with employees with realistic expectations about social media usage.
Honestly, employees will use Facebook, Twitter, or Livejournal no matter what policies are in place - it's the future of doing business. Employees just need to know what is appropriate for the workplace and what will ensure Intel's success. We have just hit the tip of the iceberg with this type of technology and putting a policy like this in place is the way to stay in ahead of the curve.
The goal is to have all employees become strong brand ambassadors - Intel's guidelines are a great way to implement clear and reasonable social media guidelines and promote their employees as advocates, not potential threats.