To Tweet or not to Tweet: the shared responsibility of corporate employees and superstar athletes

Note: This is an entry in a series of blog posts written about entering and the workforce as a member of Gen Y. These posts focus on Socialcast intern Margo Consul’s first-hand experience in a social-media-rich landscape that shapes the way new employees interact with their colleagues and customers

I spend hours every day reading news about how to use social media and all the ramifications (positive and negative) that come with it.  Social media is evolving quickly and it has been a challenge not only for myself, but also for most Gen Y employees to learn what is acceptable to post and what isn’t.  Where do you cross the line between personal and professional – or is there really even a line?

Recent social media scandals show that people often forget that the world is watching everything they do when it is on the Internet. The infamous “Cisco Fatty” incident showed just how much employers are watching social media outlets for anything and everything involving their company. Tweeting about how much you are going to hate the work of a job you just got hired to do is the quickest way to lose it.  It’s a dose of reality that new employees have to learn – you’re being watched online.

To some degree, employees are to companies what athletes are to sports teams. Recently, athletes have been causing quite a stir with inappropriate tweets; as people who are always in the spotlight, it is surprising what they are putting out on the web.

Minnesota Vikings’ Bernard Berrian recently tweeted about a teammate spraining a knee ligament at practice and that he would be out for the rest of the season. The player then tried to cover his tracks and tweeted that his teammate would return in a few games. However, he had exposed his teammate by announcing his injury over Twitter for opponents to exploit and for the media to write about. How is this any different than a corporate employee tweeting about his or her own company’s proprietary information? Social media provides an outlet for fans to get close to celebrities, but as “Cisco Fatty” found out, anyone can be a celebrity via social media. Just like professional athletes, corporate employees must be cautious about what they tweet.

Although this sounds like a public relations nightmare, it’s not. In my time at Socialcast, I’ve learned that there are ways to use social media properly and a way to use it poorly. The more word-of-mouth buzz there is about a company, the more recognizable the brand, and the more people will watch their social media activity.  Shaquille O’Neal has over 1.8 million followers on Twitter. He spends his time tweeting about anything and everything. During basketball season, Shaq created intense excitement by tweeting during halftime of Cavaliers games. He got people to watch him by using Twitter – just as companies like Socialcast hope to engage customers using Social media.

So what have I learned? I have learned that anyone can gain attention using social media. People are watching all the time, and the idea of private versus work life has disappeared as social media becomes more prevalent in the workplace. However, with the incoming workforce being well versed in social media, companies and sports teams alike cannot shy away from social media out of fear. They should educate themselves on how to use the sites properly so that they can take full advantage of the public platform that social media provides.