What happens after the storm?

So your company has been through some “ish. That’s no surprise, no company becomes great without facing the storm. But when the fan has been cleaned and  the clouds start to clear, its the communicator’s job to help a company deal with what happens after the storm.

My answer is simple: The focus needs to be on the survivors.

No leader with a company that had offices in NYC’s Twin Towers for the attacks of 9/11 focused on anything other than employee health and wellness in the aftermath of the attacks. When the ash clouds covered the city, the focus was on those directly affected and survivor well being. The best leaders know that this focus should never shift – no matter how bad that last round of layoffs was – the people you chose to keep need to be reminded that they = company success. They matter. The company HAS to care.

As companies struggle to deal with the changes of a slumping economies and profits, the focus must be on those staff members who are still at work.

So how do you focus on the survivors? The rainbows that come in the aftermath of Corporate slaughter are generated from the passion and dedication of a workforce that feels cared for. Expressing care is not just in the form of yet another “feel good” email. Leaders must walk the talk. Here are some tips.

My tips:

• Keep it real:Sugar coating a situation to employees = lying = distrust = demotivated employees. Who wants those around right? Be honest about the state of the company, explain the reasons for cut backs (please ensure they are legal) and employees will be more likely to stay on the bumpy ride with you.
• Say Thank You: I’ve written a bit on this before. A recognized employee is a motivated employee which means, they’ll likely stay around. Recognition need not always be tied to money. As increasingly generation X & Y prefer flexible work environments and millennials just want time off, consider giving a day off, early dismissal on a Friday etc to recognize staff. Hey, even a hand written thank you card is awesome – who writes anymore right? Whatever you do, say thank you, make it meaningful and tie it to what matters to the employee.
• One on One 911: A leader I look up to in the energy industry makes time each quarter for one on ones with all staff in his organizational chart. A L L. Over 40 people report to this man indirectly – he meets with everyone from secretary to manager. Why? Time = interest = increased motivation = increased productivity. I have tried this approach and it works. Giving employees the time to speak through their challenges and to again, recognize their achievements one on one definitely bears the fruit of increased productivity. #tryit The August 8 2016 Harvard Business Review wrote a great article on the importance of one on ones and, of course, tips on how to make them happen. 
• Train to Retain: When financial times are tough, training and travel are one of the first two line items to be removed. My views on this one are very strong. Investing in the capability of your people is some of the best money you will ever spend – just ask the now Amazon effect proof Home Depot whose founder One of the easiest line items to cut is employee training. Not investing in training is a mistake says Bernie Marcus, the billionaire founder of The Home Depot in an Inc 2009 article: “Training sometimes seems like a small thing, but it is actually the first step in empowering people to do their jobs well,” Marcus says. “No matter what an employee’s position was within the company, he or she could make a contribution by being creative or working hard. Training combined with providing employees a sense of belonging and rewarding them for results were the keys to our success.”I’ve left roles when I felt my development was not being given significant attention by the company. Yes, staff development costs is not the sole responsibility of the employer, but indeed, not all development is classroom based either. Mentoring, on the job training, hell, even exposing high performing staff to senior level meetings, etc are all great ways of developing in role. But, employer be ware, if you won’t invest in your people, another company will.

Hopefully these tips will help your company’s survivors. Know of course, that these approaches can’t live on paper or email – you will note, many require actual conversations. Help your leaders through the process by preparing key messages and talking points on your company’s way forward. Then give it a few months for things to get better. And, of course, when they do, send me a thank you for these tips. 🙂

 

Do Social Media Bans and Restrictions Work?

Discover social media WITH your child. Photo: mommybrown.com

Over the past few weeks the Caribbean has been dominated by news media stories stemming from apparent deviant behavior on Facebook by teens and preteens. The response from many educators, psychologists and general commentators has been consistent – social media access should be restricted for children and by restricted, many mean banned. Really?

Can you ban your children from all the social ills of the world? Or is it more pragmatic to arm them with the information to make smarter decisions?

Reality check: “Bans” or “restrictions” of social media access really don’t get to the root of the problem. You don’t have to be on Instagram for images of you to go viral. Being blocked from having a Facebook, Shapchat or other social media account won’t protect your child from being a victim of reputation attacks. Really, preparing your child to go online is a bit like preparing them for offline social life – you have to empower them with information about the risks involved point out how the decisions they make can help or hurt them in the future.

Why try to “ban” your child when in reality they are going to find a way around your restrictions anyway? Social media use is NOT like watching TV was in the 1980s. Accessing it is not as visible as turning on the noisy 48 inch box in the living room was in 1985. Social media can be accessed from almost ANY device connected to the internet which, nowadays is anything in your house except maybe your couch.

Access can be obtained from Kindles, Play Stations, WIs and IPADs to computers at school and the unlocked mobile phone of their older sibling, grandparent or friends – social media banning is difficult and impractical. In addition to this, parents are generally unaware of how many sites there are out there. So maybe you ban your child from Facebook and Instagram but you may have them on Snapchat or Kik – and have NO idea what those sites are! Proactive pragmatic parenting conversations about online use – particularly sites where you are allowed to create your own content (post and share pictures, text and videos) is important for any parent wanting to help protect their child’s reputation.

In 2011 tweens were socializing more online than they were in real life. Sure, that is a three year old US based statistic but take a look into any gathering of young people over 10 and you will see…they are using the web more than they talk. If you, as a parent, don’t know what sites they are visiting or posting to, you have literally let them play with matches and gasoline – you are just waiting for the explosion and burns that will come from inappropriate social media use. UNLESS…

Yes, unless you do something that far too many of us adults seem to be afraid of: Having CANDID conversations about social media and the risks therein. Who are they texting? What do they share online and why do they share it? These are not questions any adult should be afraid to ask a young person in their family or immediate circle. Ask about the pictures they share and most importantly ask their parents how often they follow or monitor social media activity.

Scary statistic: A UK study found 52% of children 8-16 years of age admitted to ignoring the age limitations for Facebook. If a child is using social media and they are under 13, that’s a different conversation. I am not promoting unrestricted access to the web or social media for children. Heck, I think until a child is over 18, parents have the right to check in on social media activity from time to time but that may be the child of parents who conducted bookbag checks until I started university talking…. I believe in COPPA and that online identity creation for children under 13 should not be permitted on sites that restrict same UNLESS a parent is posting to a family page.

True story. My 11 year old cousin had an Instagram account last year…until “aunty dani” found out. I did not ban his access or instruct his parents to. Instead I asked his parents a few questions:

• Does your son know that one image of him/you/us shared online can potential be viewed by millions (ok I said billions) of people we don’t know?
• Do you know that videos and photos shared on Instagram can go viral in minutes? Has your son ever filmed a video of you?
• Do you know that on Instagram you can be “friended” or followed by strangers?
• Have you given your son any guidelines on who should be his “friends” online?

 These questions spurred all kinds of conversation that ultimately led to some frank conversations and the temporary deactivation of the said account.

 He’s mad at me for now but he’s 11. He and his parents will thank me when his application for med school does not include that naked selfie he may have posted if his account was not disabled until he turns 13.

 It takes a village to raise a digital native. Help your friends out. Ask questions and be a grown up about social media instead of throwing a tantrum and trying to ban all children from same.

 Would love to hear from you. Like and share this post. Leave your comments below.

Can Social Media be a Learning Tool for Children and Parents?

I shudder to think that generation Z begins their lives with a digital footprint they have no control over. From as early as their first seconds out of the womb, children born today have their images (still and video) thrust on to social media with hundreds liking, sharing and commenting on those images. I have even seen parents create Twitter, Instagram and YouTube accounts for their children often using the child’s full name. This creates an online identity on their behalf but many don’t see that this can cause damage later in the child’s life.

Personally, I try not to judge. I’m just glad my mom did not have access to any kind of globally facing networks on which she could share my bucked toothed and bare bottomed baby images. That would have been even more career limiting than not following my own social media advice! But suggesting you hold off on placing the #mychildisthebombdotcom hashtag on photos they will hate you for later in life is not the purpose of this post.

So, can social media be a learning tool for children and parents? Yes.

To ensure same, I suggest parents create a social media site WITH your child as a basis from which you can begin preparing them to proudly control their own ONLINE IDENTITY when they are of age to do so. That term online identity is not chosen by chance. Online identity is used here to encourage YOU, the overexcited parents that share images of their kids urinating on the floor or giggling as they share their first few curse words at the tender toddler stage, to consider how such images can be used to help or harm your child in their career development twenty years from now.

Thus, for those who insist on diving into the inevitable social media kiddie pool as soon as your young one is born, here’s my social media advocate suggestion: Consider starting a “family page” for your child where you both decide what images and information you will share there AS A FAMILY. In line with the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) social media sites require users to be over the age of 13(notice the word REQUIRE not suggest.). Don’t get it twisted – I am not refuting or suggesting these rules should be broken or bent. I am suggesting however, that you post on your child’s behalf as a learning tool on this family site. This will be a new account that YOU manage with your child being a part of decision making guiding what will be shared. The site should be securely password protected (with a password that YOU keep sacred) until your child is of age to take over the site. Whether that age is 13 or older is a decision for each parent to make.

Generally, I recommend these Family sites to be treated as a joint learning activity for parents to do with children as young as 6/7 years of age. You do not have to do this on Facebook. There are a few social media sites (like Family Crossings and MyFamily.com) dedicated and created for family use that can work for this activity if you want a non public facing experience. But for this to truly work as a learning tool, you need a few of your friends and family on whatever site you choose so keep that in mind.

As you begin the social media family site (possible via Facebook, Instagram or other sites) consider creating a mission statement for the site in simple language and share it on same. Simple statements like “The Family Site dedicated to the positive growth of young (insert nickname or 1^st name) managed with his/her parents” makes it clear that this site is parentally controlled and sanctioned and won’t report your child as an underage user (yes you CAN report underage users of sites – even Instagram). This also makes it easier to explain why only immediate family and the closest friends will have access. Anyone the child does not know or is not closely related to should not have access to the site – you are building an identity not developing a marketing campaign. As you post together, to help make the site a learning tool preparing your young ones for social media life later on by asking questions as you go along like:

Who do we want to see this photograph of us? And use that as a way to introduce your child to privacy settings, friends and family on the page and have a conversation on how/ why when you post images, you basically trust the folks that can see it to be responsible. Underscore that anything placed on social media stays there forever and can’t be erased or forgiven even if you say you are sorry.

What is a profile picture? First impressions count on and offline. On many sites, even with medium to high privacy settings, these images can be made public or are come up in search engine results. Use the profile photo discussion as an opportunity to talk about what makes appropriate photograph. Don’t focus only on what is worn in in the image (later on that becomes important. SMH at the cleavage “selfie” profile photos that dominate the web) but consider and explore the feelings/ personality traits that can be interpreted by a photo. This is a happy photo versus an angry photo and how those make you (the parent) feel about the child etc. Would your teacher like this? What about our religious leader? What about a stranger? All these questions help a child realize how important the types of images posted online, particularly the profile images, are judged and examined. When they get older, their profile photo will be used to help them socialize and date (harsh reality).

Should we share this update now or later on? By asking and answering this question together you teach your young one that you need only share information when you have thought it through and are not angry of emotional. As  time goes on be sure to test with them WHY sharing the update now is imporant/ appropriate to gauge how they are thinking about social media use. Think of all the people you have seen share overly personal posts and information via social media and you will wish that SOMEONE had that conversation with them.

Also use this question as an opportunity to talk about the dangers of geotagging every post. Do you want EVERYONE to know where are all the time? What are the danges of sharing this information? Explore this with your young one early to avoid stalkers having an easier way to find them later in life (just tracking them one post at a time).

Who are our friends and family? Social media has created a very odd category of friendship called the “Social Media Friend” or “Instagram Follower”. The potential danger of this category of online interaction needs to be very clear for children as they are being prepared to enter the social media world. Clarifying this at a young age can start by sitting with your child and listing the friends and family. In these discussions as how you KNOW someone is a friend or family and what that means. Then highlight how what you share with these groups of people will be different to what you share with others. Then parlay that discussion to what you decide to post together on the shared social media and who you allow to follow or friend your page.

This question can also help you explore what being a good friend is – on and offline. Remind your children to be good “digital friends” by respecting personal information of friends and family and not sharing anything about others that is hurtful or embarassing (or potentially so).

What do we do if someone tells us something not so nice on our page or shares a picture of you/us we/you don’t like? Navigating the challenges of real life interactions is difficult for even mature adults. Learning to deal with the potential negative comments or activity on social media is difficult but it is an important lesson for children BEFORE they come of age to manage their own social media identity. I recommend that you teach them to ignore negative comments. Most negative nellies, bullies and people who take the time to leave negative comments on personal social media posts are people who just want attention. Don’t give it to them in a space where millions can view the information. Where appropriate and teach them that the place to resolve conflict is NOT online – reminding them that negative comments and exchanges shared in the digital realm can never be erased.

It is understandable that this suggestion is vastly different approach to the more common but silly approach of attempting to BAN children from social media. My husband and I view such attempts as laughable. Doing so can be compared to attempts to ban your child from drugs or alcohol and then sending them to high school without a conversation on WHY they are dangerous. Children today have more choices than ever. You have to help them make intelligent choices by providing them with the information to do so.

By having proactive conversations on how to be responsible on social media, we can hopefully help generation Y and Z be better at using social media than the generations who created it.

Share this post and your feedback. I’d love to hear from you.

Media Relations – your key to passing crisis 101

Crisis 101. Regrettably that’s as far as even the most advanced communications professional in the Caribbean gets. Possibly it can be considered fortunate to learn about crisis management only in the classroom but that fortune quickly runs out when your company is thrown under public scrutiny for an accident or incident.

Two years post the Ca

Do you need to respond?

I get about 100 odd email messages a day. That number is per email inbox. I have 4.

I am not alone. Email, with its fast bad self, is way too easy for even the half witted among us to create. Some even consider hitting send on a half finished email communication. #guiltyascharged. Or, better yet, they communicate verbally and then send an email confirming they spoke. #gross

I have had enough but luckily, as my inboxes burgeoned, my capacity to figure out what email messages require responses grew too. Here are my tips:

If your boss writes you, RESPOND. Duh!
Ok so maybe your boss writes a lot of email. You despise them secretly. Poor you. Hah! No one above you in your organization (the flat organization is NOT reality kids) thinks that so stop being not so smart and respond to their email queries or at least acknowledge what has been sent. Why is this important? 4 reasons: Bosses are busier than you are. They pay your salary. They do your performance reviews. Responding strokes their ego and any boss who claims that is not important did not work their way up an organization. It’s not about sucking up – responding to email from superiors is also a way of showing R E S P E C T.

Family first. Kinda.
Ok so your aunt Edith forwards you jokes. Ignore. But if your husband writes you or your kids, find time to respond. Hey, being a great parent these days includes digitally being there. Don’t slip on the close family email and hey, once in a while, send aunt Edith a hello too.

Respond to potential mentors
You want to work your way up. You are hoping to get noticed. Then you get copied on a mail from someone important and you don’t respond. #stopthemadness! Hit reply, change the subject and send a short note. Getting noticed can be hard but reaching out digitally can help you network. Remember though, important people get busy – don’t expect a response back. Chances are they are a boss (see point one) but they will read it eventually or at least remember that the young bright one from department x wrote them a note offering help as needed. Hello “new go to person”.

Get off mailing lists
I still have my first email account. I subscribed to school enewsletters and, when the Internet was young, I willingly shared my email address in the hope that irrelevant, never to be revisited store/ website x,y AND z would “add me to their important mailing list”. That’s where the 100 email messages to my personal accounts were born.

Be smarter than I was then. NEVER subscribe. Or do what I do now, unsubscribe to any mailing list email you have not read (and can recall) the last four messages from.

Oh yeah and silly rabbits out there – don’t give your work email to mailing lists! You want to be a boss one day – all those email messages should be from people that need you – not Victorias Secret. (I still subscribe to them though – hello Jammie’s!)

Oh yeah and last tip – add aunt Edith to my blogs subscription. After these tips I may lose some of you. 🙂

Hugs

What’s in a Name?

So you are opening a company. Congratulations – you are doing what just about every person under 25 is doing these days. As Generation Y and Z become increasingly disenchanted with the hum drum of the multigenerational workplace, they are opening their own businesses. First stop? Choosing a name for their new “start up”.

And that’s where the landscape has changed. Where as companies of the 2000s (ie: the first decade of this century) got away with calling their companies all sorts of odd names (Yahoo much???), today’s world is a bit more simple. Few are the company names that evolve into verbs like Google. Also gone are the names of the 1950s too -” Sanford and sons” type names are now non existent. Why?

Enter the importance of a front page Google result (or Bing if you dare).

As businesses fight for search engine optimized space, as tags and meta tags continue to dominate how businesses are found in search engine results, business owners are becoming (and rightfully so) more savvy in the names they select for their companies. Think Jones Communication Consulting instead of Joneacorp.

The public is more impatient than ever. We don’t want to wait for you to explain what we do. We want info as quickly as Search engines can find it. So the choice of a name is important and choosing a straight forward business name is smarter than an artsy fartsy name.

Be straight forward in your brand name and you’ll win every time.

Hugs

Thinking of Social Media brand management D.I.Y.?

You’ve heard all the success stories. Start ups and entrepreneurs that build amazing brand awareness and business by promoting via social media. So now, when those businesses are now going multi-platform (i.e.: expanding beyond one social media site) you are thinking of taking your “Facebook Plan” to the next level by going beyond your friend base – ALL BY YOURSELF.

Wake up and smell the multi-platform reality.

Social media D.I.Y. (do it yourself) brand building was successful for entrepreneurs 3-5 years ago because it was new. Growth was easier back then. Audiences were pretty much captive to one site and EVERYTHING was cool. 

Back then, social media was like the world to a toddler. Everything your social circle did online was awesome and you HAD to try it out. It was “rad”/ “killer”/ “fresh” or basically any cliche social statement of youth that is now totally passe. Social media has grown up. 

Need another example? Ok. 

Back then social users said things like: “Oooh my BFF just liked (insert cool boutique name). They MUST be cool. Let me like it too by clicking my mouse.”

Today social users are less wowed by the same activity saying: “OMG my Facebook friend just checked in at (insert boutique name). How lame that store’s not even on Instagram. I just un-followed my BFF bc their check ins are TOTALLY killing my smartphone battery.” 

If you don’t get the difference. Let me spell it out. The social media audience is no longer captive or easily wowed. We can’t stand “social spam” and chances are, we’re checking sites via our smart phone where battery life is king and frequent is less appealing than newsworthy. Social recommendations (recommendations by friends via social media) need to be AUTHENTIC and not business generated to be meaningful. 

Re-enter the PR profession. 

Around the world PR company CEO’s (likely all now under 50 with the older generation being kicked out in favor of those who understood this ‘digital age’), are breathing sighs of relief. The more savvy among them are saying “I told you so”. Why? History gives us a good reason to know why ITUSO (I told u so) can so easily be “what’sapp”ed throughout the PR world. 

Social media evolved as advertising did initially (somewhat so anyway).

Before the rise of the newspaper, stores advertised with simple signage. They depended on word of mouth from customers and good signage to make their business grow. Then billboards, radio and newspapers entered as ways to reach the public and more focus was put on them to help grow business. Word of mouth always remained important but the media by which to capture attention of the public became more complex. Expertise was needed. The PR agency was born. Today PR is reborn because the varying ways to reach audiences online have evolved WAY beyond business posting signs in their online business window. 

In addition to there being more channels – there are simply more social media users. Those store window signs just don’t cut it anymore. Businesses need help. 

So is social media D.I.Y. impossible for businesses? Not impossible BUT then again, its not impossible to solve a Rubik’s cube on the first try either (of course, you can Google ways to do that too!). So how do you grow your digital brand in today’s social media landscape? 

Hire a digital media consultant. There are a few of us out here with actual social media track records. DO NOT JUST HIRE AN INTERN (glad I got that off my chest)! Whether you hire someone certified in social media with a track record of growing a variety of business social media presence or a large scale agency,  digital media consultants work with various budgets.

To reminders here

1. Don’t be cheap – you get what you pay for. 

2. Empower yourself with enough education to at least have a sense of what the consultant is doing. (Stay tuned – I’ll have an offer to help you with this in the coming weeks). 

As you educated yourself, keep in mind that savvy social media management is not “a post here” and “a post there” – its a STRATEGY with set targets, goals and measurable milestones. Where to start?

Think about why your existing channels (ok we know its totally ONLY Facebook for 99.9% of you out there) have likely plateaued in growth or engagement. How? Look at your content and ask – what’s new here that will make customers/ fans/ friends come back.  

Get that answer then find a partner in a specialist. Tell them your vision. Agree on clear objectives. You focus on growing your business and let them work for you to help grow your digital brand. 

Hugs! 

 

About those Photos….

Don’t look now – you’ve been tagged! Trinidad and Tobago Carnival 2013 is over. The glitter is finally out of your hair. The suntans are beginning to fade and the good times are now memories…or are they?

Enter the embarrassing social media picture.  Exit your reputation (potentially anyway).

Today, those few moments of “wildness” as we say in T&T, can be captured digitally and live on forever. So, what can you do about it? You’re probably not going to love the answer. 

In reality, there is only prescription to prevent your reputation from coming into question as a result of an illicit photo featuring your image – don’t put yourself in compromising positions. Told you that you would not like it. 

I am promulgating that you refrain from the revelry that is T&T carnival? Should you dress less scantily? Where will this nonsense type of advice end you wonder? It stops there – just avoid the compromising positions! 

I’m not saying not to “tief a wine” – I am saying to be smart about it. Be aware that your actions can come back to haunt you so limit the moments. 

Ok so to those of you still reading, the advice gets a little better. Set some standards and make your friends aware of them: 

1. No photos please! Ever notice how MANY of those illicit photos feature people looking straight on at the camera? There’s a reason for that. Some people like the wildness captured. Fight the power. Stop striking poses and fewer photos will be taken

2. You better as somebody! Ask your friends, family and partygoers in your circle to refrain from taking pics of you “living it up” in a party/on the road for carnival/ “liming”. Explain that you’re not keen on the photos of your revelry being shared with the world. Identify the consequences for those who violate that up front and ask that they respect your opinion. (Note, piccong will likely will follow. Your friends may tease you a bit, but after a while, they’ll understand). 

3. To tag or untag? Untag is the answer! While your friends may not take photos of you, the world is now full of photographers. Papparazzi (interpret as other party goers who INSIST on taking photos everywhere they go) need only have a mobile phone to capture a moment. They post. Friends tag you. What do you do? Change your settings to ensure only YOU see tags or, even better, that any tags require your permission. This way, fewer photos you don’t want will be visible on your social media profiles. 

4. Take it a step further. If you don’t like the photos – write the websites, people who posted them and ask them to be removed. Yeah – I’m serious. I’ve done it and generally people comply. 

So, I’m not suggesting you change your offline life completely to avoid pictures (though some slight tweaks won’t hurt). I am suggesting that you aggressively manage your online profile. Consider starting your own blogs and you tube channels to share the image of yourself you want the world to see. 

That said. Offline ALWAYS meets Online. Ensure your reputation does not “wine to the side” when they meet. 

How to Keep Your Job AND Your Social Media Presence

We reach! People are losing their jobs because of social media. No longer just in the US/ UK – but right here at home. 

Trinidad and Tobago has had various examples in the past year of social media use negatively impacting the real, offline, lives of users. Whether it was that sad video of children being made to fight that made it to Facebook, the erratic tweets of political enthusiasts during the recent elections, or even the reporters that have lost their jobs/ are under investigation for “rants” on social media – FINALLY social media is having an impact on real life in T&T….or is it the other way around? 

Stop the madness people. Your real life IS your social media life. You take time out of your day to read blogs, check your Facebook accounts, follow trends on Twitter and Lord knows, you are viewing videos on YouTube – a site so popular it now impacts what makes it to Billboard’s top charts. 

So, you’re logging on to social media for about 30 minutes. Did not realize more than just your friends are there huh? Your boss is too smarty! According to Facebook research shared by technology trends site Mashable, worldwide, Facebook users spend 10.5 billion minutes each day surfing the site — and that doesn’t even include mobile use. Collectively, that’s nearly 20 years per day that people spend living online instead of offline. Do we REALLY think that this does not have an impact on real life? Guess what, your real life includes a job – and employers are starting to look more closely at what you are doing online and what that could mean for your offline behavior. 

And keeping your posting settings private…MEH! That’s not going to really help you in the long run. Got friends? The Caribbean is small, T&T is smaller. Someone is going to see that post that reflects your real life. Seen a screen shot posted this week? Yea…I thought so. 

Harlem shaking in your boots about that picture/video/post that you may not want your boss to know about aren’t ya? 

So is it possible to keep your job AND your social media presence? Yes (obviously). How? The advice isn’t too different from advice I shared three years ago:

1. Don’t list your place of employment on your personal profile. What? Really? Yes. Why? Because this way it becomes a little easier for your company to distance itself from your statements. Before listing your employer you should seek their social media policy on this anyway – to review and be familiar with their tips and guidelines (even though these evolve). Even if you do NOT list your employer – your posts (as are all our offline/ real life actions) are often covered by your employee code of conduct and confidentiality statements. This tip has a downside. It can take away from building your professional brand – particularly if you are a newer job seeker. Consider posting your place of employment only on LinkedIn or professional sites that YOU DO NOT link your Facebook, Twitter or other more personal social media sites to.

2. Don’t make your personal social media accounts your work accounts. This is a classic mistake. You reply to customer queries on twitter, correct wrong from your personal Facebook account or discuss work in forums with the view of protecting your company’s reputation. Courts in the US are trying to figure out if this is ok. As many view social media as the new water cooler. But in the lovely, breezy Caribbean, there’s no precedent set yet and…um…do you really want to be the guinea pig here? Unless you are authorized to do so or specifically required to via contract, avoid this. Refer queries about your company to your media relations/ customer relations/ PR department. 

3. Don’t share anything via social media that you would not want your grandmother/ grandfather/ boss to know. Those pics of you taking a belly shot off the stripper at the last bachelor party you attended – maybe not such a good idea tagging yourself in it or worse – posting to TWITTER. Even with the strictest privacy settings, a screen shot can take your reputation down.

In summary? Be smart offline and be even smarter online. You will keep your job and your social media presence – no matter where you work. 

Facebook for Kids? NO

Parents are humans. They make mistakes. Dealing with colds, homework you forgot how to do but have to help your kids with and (gasp) the fact that kids cost a fortune can’t be easy. Thus, I forgive the many misguided parent who says – “my child is on Facebook and I’m worried.” Young grasshopper parent, let me school you.

If your child can still be referred to as a child…they ought not to be on Facebook. Decoded: If your kid is under 13, Facebook is NOT for them. Am I a prude? Sure. Is this a smart suggestion? Double sure. The offline world is barely safe enough for adults – much less the online world for kids. As for Facebook for those under 13? Its akin to letting your child have some wine with dinner – every night…like a bottle…and then wondering 5 years later why the kid grew up to be a future aa attendee (and we don’t mean American Airlines).

Why? Lord knows teens and adults are addicted to what is playfully called “Macobook” in the Caribbean. As February approaches in the Caribbean, the freeness of the carnival season (on Trinidad anyway) gives rise to idle thoughts, party photos and, well, candid shots catching amusing (read as on the boarder of vulgar) moments in parties known here as fetes. You don’t let your child fete so why allow them to watch that FB facilitated live stream of the woman dancing around in a lace top?

Ok exit Carnival as my prude-ness may seem like a cultural snub. Enter the photos of brutal car accidents, sex offenders caught in the act or much more commonly, the “slack talk” that dominates many a status in the hope of installing amusement. You would not expose your child to this day to day so, why let them surf facebook where it can be so prevalent.

I am not stupid. I know the world is changing and even traditional media can bombard people young and old with material heretofore (take that for an old fashioned word) deemed forbidden. My suggestion is not censorship but rather caution. All young ones need conversations about digital footprints, about not talking to strangers (on or off line) and on the new power of photography. these convos need start long before signing on to any social network. Not just this dominant oNe about to be IPO’d for 100 billion.

Before signing on ask your young one some questions?
1. Why do you needed to be on Facebook?
2. What do you understand Facebook to be?
3. Do you understand we will share access to your account and I can cancel it at any time?
4. Before posting any photos or videos, do you understand the need to seek the permission of your parent and anyone else in the video/photo
5. Do you understand that everything you put up there can be potentially viewed by strangers?
6. Do you understand privacy settings?
7. let’s agree on potential consequences for online behavior that does not meet our family’s expectations

It’s not all perfect but hell, it’s a start. Again Facebook under 13 not ok but regardless of age, these 7 questions should form the foundation of a young person’s pre social media life.