I came across this story through FIR. It was about a PR exec (Vice President) who was to give a talk to Fedex Corp Comms people about social media. You can read more about the story here and here.
This was the comment he made on Twitter was the cause of the controversy which almost made it a disaster for the PR agency.
“True confession but I’m in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say, ‘I would die if I had to live here.’”
While the discussion on FIR with regards to the comments which ppl made, the fact that he should have known better not to say that etc was interesting, I was looking (listening) to this story from the view of being a soon-to-be PR exec. (I start work this Wednesday at Edelman)
Firstly, I have no idea why Andrews would do something like that. I mean, if he had an aggregator of social tools like Friendfeed, it would’ve been everywhere else on whichever social platform he’s at.
But more importantly, as a PR professional, should you adopt a different social identity? Are the bloggers and community u engage in comfortable with just seeing your professional side? After all, the use of social media is all about building relationships directly with the community. Will they be uncomfortable with seeing a ‘fake side’ to me?
Yet, if i do maintain my current identity, i have to restrain my thoughts and opinions because I know EVERYONE will see this. That would defeat the purpose of my blog, to EXPRESS my opinions and pen down my thoughts. Everything churned out would be with restricted control.
So share with me PR fellows, where do you draw the line between professionalism and personal space? Or does this profession carry the gift and bane of engagement?
Andrews could’ve avoided all this if he had a separate Twitter account.
Do share (Before i begin work this Wednesday!:)
The Ketchum “Twitter Gate” episode certainly makes the personal/professional divide more top-of-mind than usual. I struggle with the question too, as a PR person who’s active on Facebook, at my own blog and (now, only recently) on Twitter. I recently adjusted my FB privacy settings so clients can no longer see status updates and will use Twitter for just work stuff. The blog focuses on both personal and private so when it comes to that, I’ll continue to exercise good judgement — I have to, as president of my company (and a publicly-owned one at that) I don’t feel I have a choice. I discussed this further in a recent post: http://ssmirnov.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/beefin-in-the-blogosphere/ Would love to know how everyone else is handling.
@ssmimov:Thanks for sharing! The Bogusky incident is certainly a unique one. Just curious, are any of your employees or clients affected by your privacy settings on FB?
i don’t think we need a separate account for anything really. If social media is an extension of ourselves, then we ourselves have to be responsible for how we conduct ourselves online.
Privacy? Not if you have anything to hide. Most things these days are accepted, and apart from the occasional drunk photo.. well, that’s up to you yourself to police. Like what Smirnov said, we can censor our clients from our PERSONAL networks.
but at it’s heart, i think we just have to be mindful of the media we consume and publish.
@Brian: Agreed! Looking at the peeps in my office, most of them don’t have a separate account and it’s managing the level of transparency to the network which is more vital. Ah, the balance of personal and work life at it’s best.