Pardon me sir, is this your Tweet?

A few months ago I posted a blog titled “To Tweet or not to Tweet, that is the question” and presented the idea that we should determine how and if it is used for business. The response from you was fantastic and I thank you. Today, I am presenting another perspective in this subject and including the other social media outlets as well, if you or your employees Tweet or use other social media outlets like Facebook, LinkedIn or more, should you have a policy in place that discusses capturing that information and storing it in your corporate repositories?

I know, you are thinking that I have gone too far with this governance thing, but have I really? The reason I am writing this blog is due to an article I read that triggered these thoughts. The article was in the Austin 10 written by Tony R. Bertolino, managing partner at Bertolino LLP titled MySpace, Facebook, GPS and other eDiscovery: Coming Soon to a Texas Divorce Proceeding Near You. The premise of the article is that content posted in these areas could be found and used against you. Taking this to the next level it made me think, is Twitter now included in this mix? In my view, I think it is and as a result we need to establish policy in the same way we do other content.

I think all of these tools are fantastic and a great way to communicate with friends, family, colleagues, clients and prospects. I think that they provide value, each in their own way. The challenge we face is one of what is being said and does it have business value? Imagine being asked in court “Pardon me sir, is this your Tweet?” in relation to some court action against you or your company?” I am not saying we should be paranoid about these technologies and services, but I am saying we need to be aware and take ownership of our corporate responsibility to preserve content that has a value. I am saying that we should use these tools and minimize our risks by putting some form of governance and guidance in place that describes proper use for business purposes the same as we would for telephone, email and any other communications tool.

 What say you? How do you collaborate? Do you have a story to tell? I want to hear from you and learn what you and your organization are doing.

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Bob Larrivee – AIIM

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Comments

[Art Schlussel]

Bob,
You keep coming up with good hot topics. I file this one under "you have the right to remain silent, and everything you say (tweet, blog, wall, etc.) can and will be used against you in a court of law." Of course it will. As long as there are lawyers and lawsuits there will be tactics to use your words and thoughts against you. Privacy is gone. It does not exist in today's world. Hello, is this mic on? Unless you are in a locked room under the Cone of Silence you have to assume that everything you communicate in every form is public. It is unfortunate, but that's the way of the world we live in. Even as I type I must assume my key strokes are being captured in some huge database somewhere. Paranoid, no, just realistic. What I do in my personal life is up to me (though I know it very well could impact my professional life as well), but when I am acting on behalf of a company or client I must be even more diligent in how I communicate. Governance is a good start. Everyone needs to understand the rules of the game. Then if you break the rules you know the consequences. Organizations need to create governance structures to help protect themselves and their employees from themselves. It is the most innocent and benign thoughts that will bite you in the butt at some later date.

[Stephen D. Poe]

Bob -

Good point. People (and organizations) are slow to realize whatever they do online is there forever, and discoverable in litigation. Bertolino's article you cited might have been primarily aimed at divorces but could apply to any suit.

A new decision by the Arizona Supreme Court making metadata discoverable (and requiring delivery of the electronic version instead of hardcopies) could have even more far-reaching consequences - see Ariz. court rules records law covers 'metadata' @ http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20091029/ap_on_hi_te/us_hidden_records.

[Melinda]

I agree this is a good hot topic, though I would respectfully counter some of the points made by Art.

"As long as there are lawyers and lawsuits there will be tactics to use your words and thoughts against you." Flip side: Thoughtless, inconsiderate people can and should be held accountable for their actions, words, and impacts. Not sure what you mean by 'thoughts being held against you' but mean people suck!

"It is the most innocent and benign thoughts that will bite you in the butt at some later date." Flip side: "Live your life [and phrase your words] so that you would not be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip." ~ Will Rogers

Hope we can keep the discussion going. Cheers!

[Terry Johnson]

Very interesting subject. This is my first time actually putting my thoughts out there, so there will be no controversial stuff in case it comes back to bite me. There is no cone of silence as has been previously mentioned. It's good and bad. Good in that we can have our say on everyhting and anything, even if we know nothing about it. Bad, as we dare not say any thing strange or someone will come up with the nude pictures from your prom night and lose us our seat on the Supreme Court. I read an article recently about a lawyer who brought up opinions voiced in someone's facebook, and held it against them - I believe they were professing pacifism, and the Facebook words said otherwise.
Good to see Stephen Poe is still at it!