Freedom of Tweet
Posted on | July 7, 2010 | david jones
The First Amendment of the Constitution promises Freedom of Speech. But does it guarantee Freedom of Tweets? And, should it?
When it comes to tweeting (and other forms of social communication), many brands, companies and organizations are struggling with guidelines.
Even my alma mater – UNC – is no exception. When members of the men’s basketball teams were a little too open with their tweets this season, the athletic department stepped in and told them to tone down their online conversations.
So should there be any rules? And if so, where should the line be drawn?
I believe it depends on who is doing the talking (or tweeting) and in what role they are recognized. When communicating socially, most people fall into one of three categories:
- Personal Communicators: They are not necessarily known or linked outside of personal relationships. It could be your next door neighbor, your child, or even Ashton Kutcher.
- Corporate Communicators: They are linked to an organization because they are speaking on their behalf, they are a fairly high-level executive, or they have purposely associated themselves with the organization. See Scott Monty, head of Social Media for Ford.
- Public Figures: People know them and they are linked to an organization . . . like some of UNC’s basketball players (meet Deon Thompson).
So what should the rules be?
In general, Personal Communicators should have no guidelines other than what they self-impose based on values and common sense. On the other hand, Corporate Communicators and Public Figures should be held to a higher standard. Intentionally or not, they represent certain organizations and their comments impact those groups, companies and brands. And by the way, you might fall into more than one category depending on where you are speaking. For example, your Facebook might be totally personal, but on Linkedin or Twitter you might be associated as an employee of an organization.
But I also have a suggestion for the organizations to which these people belong. Spend a little less time trying to control the dialog, and a little more time trying to improve the situations your people are complaining about. This would fix two things: whatever they are complaining about and their complaints.
And finally, whatever you do as an organization, don’t ignore this and assume it will simply take care of itself. Determine your guidelines, and then make sure your people clearly understand the things you welcome and the behavior you won’t tolerate. Don’t make them guess.
How about you; what’s your opinion?
Oh yea, I almost forgot. Do you know how I found out about the UNC basketball situation? From a Tweet, Toning down the Tar Heels Tweets.
Did you like this post? Here are a few more:
- Leery of Social Media? Have a Social Media Policy
- Look on the Bright Side – of Twitter
- PR Interviews – What to Do and What not to Do
- Is It Time for a Branding Bailout?
- Stop Selling and Just Answer the Question
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September 1st, 2010 @ 11:18 am
Similar to your post. I just read an article about a journalist from the Washington Post feeding misinformation through twitter. He did this as project to find out if people were siting references, but since he was such a respected journalist people just took the info and ran with it. People should definitely take into account who they are before posting anything on social media. The thing EVERYONE should think about is there is always someone who is going to read or view the info, and you can’t take it back once it’s out there.