Telstra Lays Down Law On Social Media 78
Kerrieanne writes to tell us that Australian telecommunications giant Telstra has become the first major player down under to lay down the law with respect to social media. Still recovering from the shakeup surrounding a Telstra worker using the name of the communications minister on Twitter, they have released a six-page set of guidelines on the use of Facebook, Twitter, and other similar websites for both company and personal use. "Under the guidelines, which are backed up with the threat of disciplinary action, employees using sites on official Telstra business should disclose who they are, ensure they do not give away confidential information and treat other users with respect. They are required to complete an accreditation process and undergo training to update their 'knowledge on emerging social trends and evolving best practice in social media.'"
New Web Acronym? (Score:3, Interesting)
TVEITPAMOADNNRTVOME
(The views expressed in this post are mine only and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer)
Re:But Telstra thinks school rules apply at home (Score:3, Interesting)
If you publicly embarrass any employer on your own time, you will likely face disciplinary action. Telstra is hardly unique when it comes to this.
Who's Teaching Whom? (Score:5, Interesting)
'knowledge on emerging social trends and evolving best practice in social media.'
Soooo... some 56 year old CEO who regularly asks questions like, "Have you heard of these two new sites, 'Tweets' and 'Twitter'?" is going to ask his best 47 year olds (the hip kids) to form a committee to write the official company policy so they can tell the 24 year old kid, who has been using social media for nearly half his life, about the best practices in social media?
Man, that sure is some big, clankin' hubris you got there, old man. You may well be giving Steve Ballmer a run for the "head stuffed furthest up one's nethers" prize.
How 'bout this: Telstra announced that they would be forming a committee of 23 year olds to explain to the executives what social networking is.
I'm closer to the old guy than the young gun, but lets face it - the kids are the ones who are defining this disruptive technology. Discount them at your peril.
All anon company communication should be illegal (Score:3, Interesting)
It's good to see at least one company making sure that employees representing the company are identified as such regardless of the media.
However, this should be universal.
Astroturfing and all forms of anonymous marketing and advertising should be illegal. Company legal structures require accountability and accountability is impossible when company agents act anonymously. There should be serious consequences, including fines and jail terms, for egregious offenders.
That includes talking on social media sites, fake letters to the editor, conversations in bars, mystery advertising and sponsorship. Everywhere.
Anonymous marketing destroys social trust, and over the long term that's a very bad thing.
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The USA is <5% of the world's population. It is statistically insignificant.
Re:Some socially correct bitch (Score:3, Interesting)
They are also the weird aberration of a government owned monopoly that has recently gone private and has the worst of both worlds. Think of a department of motor transport mixed with Enron run by a guy that has bounced from one failure to the next all his career but still demands to be treated like a rock star. Thankfully he's taking his payout of millions and his mediocre cronies and leaving soon.
Telstra think you are always on company time (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Telstra think you are always on company time (Score:4, Interesting)
They are under the impression they "own" their employees and upper management has little or no understanding of Australian workplace laws.
Re:But Telstra thinks school rules apply at home (Score:2, Interesting)
I think that not being allowed to speak freely about your company on your own time is a sign of a power imbalance.
Any company that has to censor its employees when they're at home is either dysfunctionally paranoid or has something to hide.
I think the intent was not to prevent staff from speaking freely (though certainly they specifically tell you not to bad mouth Telstra) so much as to make it clear to others that you are a telstra employee, even if you believe your remarks aren't biased because of it. It's not always apparent to others whether your remarked may have been influenced, after the fact.
* Disclaimer: i work for telstra and received the memo yesterday...