Should employees who tweet use a separate profile?
A question we’re often asked by clients is whether organisations should mandate that employees who tweet and blog should set up a profile dedicated to their ‘work persona’ or whether they should use their own personal accounts. I don’t think there’s a simple answer to this, so I thought it would be interesting to discuss it here. Here’s my take on it, but please let us know what you think in the comments.
As an example, I only have one Twitter account – @tomnixon. There’s work-related social media stuff on there, plus tweets about running and at the moment, having a cold. If you’re a client or someone from the Digital world, you might find me a bit off-topic and ‘noisy.’ You might be more inclined to follow me if I had a separate work-related Twitter account with just the social media stuff, perhaps @NM-tom. We could use this convention for Twitter accounts for everyone else on the team: NM-ross; NM-will; NM-steve and so on. People would be able to follow these accounts knowing that they’ll just get the meaty goodness relating to what NixonMcInnes does. The organisation can give guidelines about what’s acceptable, and might be more comfortable that the brand is not getting diluted by talk of vodka jelly.
I can see the appeal of work-specific accounts, but I think that having just one profile that combines personal and work personas is the way to go for two main reasons:
1. Personal brand
Social media gives individuals the opportunity to build a personal brand. For example, look at Jeremiah Owyang. While he worked at Forrester, he built a large following on Twitter. He’s now a partner at Altimeter Group and takes his personal brand, and Twitter following with him. He doesn’t have to start again from scratch.
If an organisation opts for company-specific Twitter accounts then you will miss out out on the benefits of the personal brands that new starters bring to the organisation. But what about Forrester? Have they lost out on ownership of Owyang’s following now that he’s left? Would they have been better off getting him to purely build Forrester’s brand and not his own? Perhaps yes, in the short-term. But now that they’re hiring for his replacement, they are actively seeking someone who also has a personal brand that can then be associated with Forrester. And even if he did have a company-specific @forrester-jeremiah Twitter account – what would happen to that once he left? It’s not something that can be handed over to a replacement because people have (mostly) chosen to follow the individual, not their employer. The account would probably just fester which is real waste.
2. People don’t fit in boxes
It can feel like there’s a clear line between our work and ‘real life’ persona, but I would argue that the line is becoming increasingly blurred. We all talk to work colleagues about what’s going on in the rest of our lives, and we often open up the ‘real us’ to clients. I don’t think we should avoid this online. I love it when I discover that someone I know originally through a work context is into mountain biking, running or DJing. It builds stronger relationships when you connect with people about more than just work and it can get messy if you have to switch between two different accounts.
What do you think? Should we keep work and play separate, or is your presence in social media just ‘you’ in all your guises?
Tom wrote this on 05.10.09 – 17 comments
It's filed in the Strategy box
On October 5th, 2009 at 4:03 pm, Rosie responded:
I completely agree with you Tom. If you have trustworthy employees having a twitter account used for both work and play only enhances the power of connection that Twitter allows between clients, friends and community in general.
You can be ever so clever and grown up but be approachable and human at the same time!!!
On October 5th, 2009 at 4:06 pm, Tweets that mention Should employees who tweet use a separate profile? @ NixonMcInnes: Social media goodness. Translated. Created. Delivered. -- Topsy.com responded:
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kevin Nellies. Kevin Nellies said: RT@tomnixon Should employees who tweet use a separate profile? http://bit.ly/I6z2M [...]
On October 5th, 2009 at 4:29 pm, Steve responded:
Agree on all points. Separate accounts means that you lose authenticity. The ‘warts n all’ approach is much ‘real’.
We’re well passed the days where companies can do nothing but spout the company line and get away with it. Potential customers want to see a human side to brands. Allowing employees to express themselves while also representing the brand is much more engaging.
On October 5th, 2009 at 4:38 pm, Nigel responded:
Completely agree… while some of the guys who work at Qube give me a heart attack sometimes because they walk a fine line with their tweets (@mrtomasz mostly :-), I’d much rather that than a prescribed, watered down version that only focused on the ‘professional’.
Feel trying to siphon off one aspect of someone’s personality on Twitter would lose a lot of value.
I don’t only follow people for their professional output – I like to know something about them from it too – it makes their opinion more – or less – important to me.
On October 5th, 2009 at 4:47 pm, Ben responded:
Completely agree. If you categorise your twitter activity in such a way (keeping your professional tweets for a professional account and vice versa for your personal account) you risk removing the “social” from “social media” which er, well, makes it plain old “media”
Another example is brands who insist on having calls to action at the end of their tweets. Having CTA’s on twitter, in my opinion, again devalues the social engagement of the brand.
On October 5th, 2009 at 4:54 pm, David Lockie responded:
Hey Tom,
Good question. Some social media platforms have clear advantages for keeping work/personal separate – I use two delicious accounts, two google accounts for reader, docs, etc.
Twitter’s an interesting one though. We have a central work account which pushes out the site’s content, essentially as a channel. I also have a personal account through which I RT stuff from the work account when it is of particular interest to me, as well as a whole array of other stuff.
Thinking about it, I don’t really promote my personal twitter account through the company website, but when I meet people socially, they usually end up with my personal handle and get to the work account from there.
I think you hit the nail on the head with ‘the line [between our work and 'real life' persona] is becoming increasingly blurred’. More and more it feels like social media is humanising the web, in this case by forcing companies/employees to make this kind of explicit choice.
If your employees are at all engaged with the company’s activities, they are likely to tweet about them, and that’s a good thing. If employees aren’t engaged enough to want to write 140 characters about what you’re doing as a company, you’ve got deeper problems than whether employees should have their own twitter accounts or not.
When companies consider employees as assets in their own right, that implies the companies are comfortable and confident with their staff (and by association the company) being judged on their own merits. OK, so not all your employees’ tweets are going to add value to your company, some might even reflect badly, but at least they are reflected, at least there is something to make a judgement on.
Better the devil you know?
Maybe the most important thing is to be clear on your bio what you tweet about. Let people decide quickly whether or not they want to follow you, whatever you tweet.
On October 5th, 2009 at 4:57 pm, Ross responded:
On occasion, for customer service for example, I think that having real people representing brands is really powerful, as customers feel that they’re talking with someone is human, but also official and able to help.
However for me, a big attraction of Twitter is the real-time humaness of it all. I love reading tweets between 9 and 5 relating to interesting articles and clever web stuff, but also really like reading about movies that people have seen, restaurants they recommend, or that on a Sunday morning that they’re as hungover as me.
On October 5th, 2009 at 5:00 pm, Jenni responded:
Interesting point Tom
I did have a think about my new business card recently, as Josh had put my Twitter name on it – in the end I asked him to remove it, as I don’t want to so concretely link my Twitter presence to my ‘professional’ persona.
I suppose we could view all of these things as existing within a spectrum, with some profiles being more balanced towards the work side of things than others. I definitely feel more comfortable about clients following me on Twitter than I do on Facebook – although I hasten to add there’s nothing outrageous on there!
@jowyang did tweet about this ages ago – apparently some followers thought he was talking too much about his dog and wanted him to get more on topic… his answer was along the lines of – ‘this is me… take it or leave it’
On October 5th, 2009 at 5:21 pm, Jo Wadsworth responded:
I’m definitely in favour of using the Twitter account you use for work to also show a human side. One of the best things about Twitter is how effective it is at building trust and relationships, and being personable and even playful is key to that. But while it should be personal, there should also be some boundaries.
Last week The Washington Times sparked criticism when it published guidelines on how its staffers should use their social media profiles:
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-wapos-social-media-guidelines-paint-staff-into-virtual-corner/
While I agree that the WaPo went too far, I have come across far too many instances of accounts being used inappropriately not to see the need for some sensible guidelines.
And those guidelines should apply to whatever public profiles employees have online. I keep my work account separate from my personal one simply because my personal followers would get sick to death of me tweeting about Brighton issues, and most Brightonians bored of me banging on about journalism. But I appreciate that I need to be accountable for what I say on both accounts.
On October 5th, 2009 at 8:34 pm, Tim Aldiss responded:
Hi Tom
Thanks for starting this discussion – very on-topic right now.
I think this is endemic of ‘right now’. It reflects where we are in the social media revolution.
In regards to individuals: Those of us on Twitter (or the web in general) are our own ‘brands’, or perhaps more specifically ‘influencers’. When we are hired, or looking for new hires, our social profiles are now scrutinised by HR for compatability, integrity, and all those other desirable features. In the same way as successful digital marketing involves open, honest communication, so too does our transparency in the digital world.
You take your digital profile with you through life, it’s desirability is a factor for an employer as much as a good career history is. Working for a company there has to be a mutual compatibility and appreciation. Jeremiah’s replacement will inevitably have a good social profile from his/her previous employ – you are who you are regardless of which professional hat you are wearing.
When it comes to clients I totally agree that individuals inside the company, who are willing and able, need to be coaxed and coached to share their passion for their business – through personal and also through a work profile… maybe by contributing to a collective business account (as long as this is manageable).
Of course this will all change one day when all digital marketing/advertising is regulated.
If you are interested, I contribute to the Fresh Egg twitter feed (@freshegg) in the same way as I contributed to the iCrossing feed (@icrossing_uk) as I find a clear difference between a brand joining the conversation to my individual opinion/observation. And more importantly I would also not want to speak for the entire business.
On October 6th, 2009 at 12:22 pm, Laura-May Coope responded:
Who puts the social in social media? We do. It’s a simple approach and I really do think without the human elements of Twitter, we would all get bored very quickly.
Separate accounts for work and personal life risk creating a sterile and diluted atmosphere – people get far too worried and preoccupied with what is, and what isn’t acceptable and in the end we’re faced with pages of reliable RT’s and very little else. I know I always do the extra search-work and locate a personal page to follow, along with the central company account, this ensures I see the entire picture and can get an idea of how that particular company works together.
I agree that those who wish to have an open Twitter page, that can be located by clients, need some basic coaching and advice from employers – after all, as David mentioned, ‘If your employees are at all engaged with the company’s activities, they are likely to tweet about them, and that’s a good thing.’ Putting yourself out there with a Twitter page requires responsibility and maintenance, this is something we always stress to all of our staff.
I contribute to the main flannel (flannelbrighton) Twitter feed, which is the voice of the entire company, and have my personal page (Laura_Milkteeth) which isn’t promoted through flannel at all, but which is happily followed by a number of our clients, contacts and peers. I’m comfortable with building relationships and am fully aware that what I say will be read by a variety of followers. I often discuss marketing news, media announcements and ask work related questions. This is balanced with a healthy dose of music, food, dj’ing and Hollyoaks! My personality and passion are the main reasons I was hired for this job – removing these factors from my Twitter feed would leave the whole affair rather bland.
On October 6th, 2009 at 4:34 pm, Nicole responded:
I suppose it depends if you like your job or not ;-) and what prompts you to tweet. I’ve used my account far less recently as my role at work has become less fulfilling. My tweets would be pretty negative during office hours and with a whole load of work based contacts maybe not that appropriate.
However I know the ups and downs of both life and career happen to everyone so maybe I’m just suffering from a case of ‘media paranoia’
On October 6th, 2009 at 6:34 pm, Tom responded:
Thanks very much for the comments all. I’m a bit surprised that nobody is disagreeing! What about when an employee leaves a company, but has lots of connections with customers who might direct message private data to them? Are there other legal issues? Intellectual property?
On October 6th, 2009 at 6:45 pm, Joshua van der Broek responded:
I am always consistent and open – I’ve got nothing to hide and I’m no criminal to boot!
Of course offensive and ignorant comments will not wash with anyone and that’s certainly not what I’m about.
One thing is for certain my voice is my voice and it’s the same everywhere so it make sense for me to have one channel – otherwise im over censoring myself – naturally there are things I would never say online, pretty much the same way you make that call offline.
On October 6th, 2009 at 7:27 pm, Tim Aldiss responded:
Stir the pot Tom!
I think this is where a corporate social media policy comes in. I’m writing one myself right now. Connections with customers is what needs to be defined. I’d argue that what might appear as a relatively unofficial dialogue (Twitter in this case) would need to be formalised via email if campaign/business decisions were being made.
Intellectual property is a tricky one. As a former knowledge manager I know how hard it is to get to grips with official documentation when we are all pioneering a new industry.
As managers we have a responsibility to know when to step in and formalise where relevant – after all it’s still a relatively transparent medium, and without trust I don’t think we’d be in business at all.
From trust leads integrity, honesty, and loyalty – attributes to be nurtured in staff.
There’s a list of social media policies here – from Razorfish to the BBC – http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php?f=1
On October 7th, 2009 at 12:36 pm, claire stokoe responded:
It’s an interesting point as I get a lot of clients asking me this type of question, with fear in their eyes and just the hint of a cold shiver. I always say that “I’m of the mind that you should be ‘WIDE’ open in your online engagement and take no prisoners, because in a conversation, if your not being yourself, who the hell are you being, and when do you stop being that one and become the other one, and… oh god i’m lost?”
I do think that using a work persona is a bit like when my grandmother, who was a broad Geordie, used to put on her phone voice, sounding a bit like the love child of Robson & Jerome and Judy Dench, it was just wrong.
But on the point of ‘work persona’s, Tim Aldiss’s point about knowledge management at work, needs chewing over, the idea of the structured brand is still very much a hurdle for a social media engineer (thats me).
PR dept’s pushing and pulling over whether to let go of the corners of their shiny new logo’s, their mission statements looking all crumpled and I envision all of these brand marketers desperately running around adding changes to everything – everywhere that mentions their Brand, loads of embittered tags, and RT’s (I moved those pixels 0.4 to the left, that’s was me damn you … 0.4).
Of course what hasn’t hit a lot of these companies is that their brand’s mission statements are already crumpled with droplets of cold tea all over them, people are messy, thats why theres that saying “the great unwashed” they grab things and read them and stick them in their bookmark drawers, delete them by accident, take a picture of someone having a wee in front of a companies brand new logo… nothings sacred and that’s kind of nice… “Whew” I ran out of breath there.
So is guess what I’m running around the house in the snow to say is, I agree that we need to consider a clients Brand when considering engagement and each of them have to find their own voice, but I don’t think that persona’s are the way to go for Brands. I think personas are great for a group of people who have a collective interest and call it ‘Hamsternews’, but for Brands, people want to see what Katy from H.R thinks about the new products, and if that’s any different from Bob in the packing room, because they know Bob as an aversion to green.
Mind you, here’s me saying ‘yeah let it al hang out’. When our NatWest contact said, “oh yeah, I’m following you” and I though, Christ, what have I said and dashed for my iphone. Well it was in my pocket, but reached into my pocket has less affect. byee
On October 12th, 2009 at 9:13 pm, Cool stuff – October 12, 2009 — Danny Whatmough.com responded:
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