There has been a fair amount of coverage in the UK press about the expectations of young people going into the workforce, especially around the services and provisions that their new employers should make.  Social networking is one of the options that new entrants to the workplace expect to have switched on.

The relationship works both ways though, and employers expect a degree of decorum when their employees talk about their jobs on line.

I spoke to Dr Maurice A Ramirez, founder of the consulting firm High Alert, about how you should use blogging and social networking as it relates to work.  Dr Ramirez is a specialist in ‘pandemic preparedness and healthcare surge planning’ (whatever that is) but has also become a bit of a guru in social networking by default.

What are the pitfalls and benefits about blogging about your job?

Benefits:

• Great PR for the company, the company’s products/services and even for recruitment.
• Opportunity to “prospect” for new customers, especially if you are a sales person for the company.
• Can also be a great emotional release when problems exist at work or when work stress builds up.

Pitfalls:

• Internal company problems can become “publicly aired.”
• Customers and potential customers have the opportunity to see the “real you” behind the corporate mask.
• Postings that are not intended to reflect on the company or the boss can be misconstrued as critical or even derogatory of the company or boss with dire outcome for the author.
• Postings intended to be critical, but never really intended to be “said out loud” end up on the blog and impacting careers (a moment on the tongue, a lifetime on the resume).

What should employers be aware of if employees blog?

• 1st Amendment protections [for the US]. The employee can be restricted from posting during work hours, and the content on a company blog can be controlled, but employees with their own blog are authors with the same protections and responsibilities as any author.
• Reader to Blogger ratios. There are over 4 billion blogs on the internet according to some estimates. With only 6.6 billion people on the  planet and fewer than half with internet access, the reader to blog ration is very small. Many employers make the mistake of trying to control the content of an employee’s private blog through threat and intimidation. The problem is that the average blog is boring to the majority of readers and more importantly the search engines. An employee who posts a non-libelous blog about their employer is unlikely to have much of a readership, however when the employee can blog about 1st Amendment rights, employer intimidation, or even blame the removal of a blog entry on their employer’s actions, the blog becomes interesting to other bloggers. The other bloggers virally spread the employee’s blog and their story across the internet and an unflattering but unread blog entry morph’s into a PR nightmare for an employer.
• Don’t masquerade as a blogger. A few businesses have tried to masquerade as bloggers extolling the virtues of the company. Invariably these companiesare caught and the blogger back-lash is formidable. Just don’t do it. The activity is unethical and when  iscovered will irrevocably damage your business reputation.

Do you think that it is useful from a career perspective to participate in social networking online?

Absolutely, online social networking provides several career advantages.

1. Increases the number of references and advocates in your professional circle of influence
2. Provides a larger referral base for new career opportunities
3. Provides a larger resource base for assistance and advice

Are there any pitfalls?

Like any networking there are pitfalls. If you network, but do not communicate, then your contact list is useless, worse, you could request a reference and receive a less than accurate reference letter. The key is to build relationships, not just networks.

In summary, it’s a good idea, but don’t expect to spend all day at work on Facebook, and remember that whatever you write may come back to haunt you in a future job interview!

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