Tom Guarriello, Ph.D.Psychologist. Founding Faculty, Masters in Branding Program School of Visual Arts. Co-host of BrandBox.Show podcast.

Corporations and Social Media

13 Oct 2009 · 2 min

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1:31

In this short monologue, the speaker references a recent survey of Chief Information Officers that found roughly 54% of respondents completely block employee access to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The speaker then poses three open‑ended questions to the audience: (1) what they think about the survey results, (2) what social‑media policies their own organizations have, and (3) whether they believe total restriction is the best way to manage employee behavior and ensure corporate performance. The speaker expresses puzzlement at the prevalence of total bans and invites listeners to explain the reasoning behind such policies, seeking diverse viewpoints and rationales.

Chapters

So for about the last week or so, we've been hearing about this survey of Chief Information Officers regarding corporate policies for internet access for employees. And it turns out that about 54% of the CIOs who were surveyed totally restrict access to sites like Facebook and Twitter. Now, I'm curious. First of all, What do you think about those results? Secondly, what kind of policy does your organization have regarding social media? And third, in particular, if you think that the best way to lead and to manage employee behavior is to totally restrict access to sites like these, help me understand your thinking. Help me understand your reasoning for believing that this is the best way that you can be sure that your corporation is delivering the kind of excellent results that you're being held accountable for. I find it puzzling, and a lot of the people whose opinions I've been reading online also find it puzzling, and I'd sure like to hear somebody tell me why. They think this is absolutely the right thing to do. So, love to hear from you, and, um, hopefully see you out there.