Social Media Engagement Policy of Telstra - Assignment Example

Introduction This report has been prepared in a problem solving format by addressing solutions to specific questions of social media engagement policy of Telstra. The report looks to provide clear understanding of knowledge of the case study and also provides ways how Telstra could improve their position in the current working scenario. Initially the report provides a clear solution of how a specific social networking site named Facebook is more precisely a public communication platform than a private platform along with the consequences which an individual can face by making posts in such social networking sites. The report then looks to address specific issues in relation to ethics of social media engagement policy and its importance in a policy build up. The report also addresses a specific importance of proviso in Telstra’s social media engagement policy which relates to terms of usage in context of social media platform being used. The focus here is on the marketing perspective of such a proviso. Finally the report identifies a case study analysis of an employee of Telstra who went wrong as per the new social media engagement policy by using a fake identity on a social networking site by relating the same to the 3 R’s of the social media engagement policy of Telstra. A conclusion is further provided for ensuring that readers gain both theoretical and practical understanding of the topic under study. Answer 1. A) It can be concluded that it is appropriate to treat communication on a social networking site like Facebook as a form of public platform than as a private communication platform as these platforms are characterized with limited functionality and organizations in reality has very little or no control over their designs and functional features. Further when an employee makes a post on such social networking sites he at that instance may not realize the importance of such comments as the same may be an integral part of the communication mix of the employer’s planned message and which through such post loses its confidentiality and secrecy and become a public message which could negatively impact the organization. It is to be noted that though this social networking sites provide users with an option to customize their private settings to enable more secrecy and confidentiality to the user most of the time an account holders ignores the same due to its complexity and non-functionality. Further privacy is just an illusion in such social networking sites as even though it restricts some other users to have an access to the confidential information of an account holder the platform provider can and does easily access to such privacy information (Hickson, Hinings, McMillan, & Schwitter, 2004). Commenting or liking a page on Facebook reveals all information of the user to anyone who makes a visit to such particular page. Lastly there is always a perceived privacy threat on such social networking sites as the same give an access to large corporations and governmental bodies a substantial chance to produce and detect personal information which may be detrimental for the user in the longer run. B) One should not post a comment or view which he/she does not wants his employer or future employer to read as people from all communities be it social, corporate, cultural etc has shown significance interest in using such social networking sites particularly Facebook as it is very easy for anyone to access information from such sites unless an account holder specifically changes the privacy settings which in most cases are ignored. Further the very fact that once someone posts anything on internet it remains on internet, no matter if the user changes the privacy settings after such posts. Employer this day’s on a constant basis conducts background checks, testing checks and informational checks to gather important information about their existing and potential employees and if anything is posted by such employee in haste or in fun which could in any manner play with the sentiments of existing boss or future employer can be much detrimental for the employee and can even lead to permanent termination of such employee from its respective job position. Answer 2. Telstra’s social media engagement policy exhibits protection for the company and enhancement of its brand image however, the same also look to ensure protection of its employees in the following manner. The policies are drafted in a manner to ensure ethical standards are met along with decision making behavior of its employees. The policy is characterized with whistle blowing feature where employees are provided privacy and secrecy in terms of their identity disclosures and are encouraged to report on any matters which they consider as susceptible, illegal or unethical to the organization and its working environment (Gagliardi, 2006). To ensure that employees do not face any detrimental consequences in future the policy clearly lays down guidelines for its employees with regards to usage of social media both in personal capacity and as a part of their job. Further it recognizes the rights of its employees to engage themselves in social media (Gagliardi, 2006). Ethics are grounded in a better manner as the policy ensures that ethical standards are met. The policy does not allow its employees a complete freedom to say or comment on company matters but rather restricts their rights to speak openly on matters concerning company which constantly reminds employees of their roles and responsibilities thus ensuring no serious disrepute to the organization and its employees. The policy also lays down the requirement of approvals to employees and contractors for using social media on behalf of company. Thus, defining roles and responsibilities of each individual employee and a true, fair and transparent usage of social media in both their job positions and personal capacity (Gagliardi, 2006). Ethical behavior of employees are ensured by ensuring that employees understand the appropriate use of online behavior to cut down any serious negative consequences on the use of social media in the current or future scenario. Answer 3. A new social media engagement policy should not be just do’s and don’ts but should be grounded with ethics as ethics form an integral part of organizational structure and culture and ethical standards has same implications on online contents. Social network technologies usually open a space for ethical dilemma where both personal identities and communities both in real and virtual existence are constructed, negotiated, developed and managed. Ethical standards play a significant role in maintenance of accuracy, transparency, fairness, honesty and impartiality in all online dealings. Its presence in social media policy provides appropriate guidelines and directions on the correct usage of social media for both business and personal uses. Social media policy should further ensure that all ethical challenges are met as ignorance of same shall someway or other lead to regulatory and governmental implications of the company which shall disrepute the performance of both organization and its employees. In addition ethical standards when synchronized with other functions accelerates the effectiveness of social media policy and ensure that employees understand the importance of ethical norms in context of corporate ethical standards and helps them to establish a virtual link between their performance, work environment and social media practices. Ethics in social media policy also sets expectations, responsibilities, awareness and accountability of all individuals governed by the social media policy. Answer 4. Telstra’s social media policy has many policies of which one requires its employees to adhere to the terms of use and seek conform to the cultural and behavioral norms of social media marketing platform being used by them. This proviso makes complete sense from a marketing communication perspective as when employees use social networking sites and social media they may be unaware of its serious consequences which could be detrimental to them because of sharing such information which are regarded as confidential and secret under the company’s terms and policy. Further inclusion of such proviso in the social media engagement policy helps in aligning the principles governing social media with legal imperatives and consequences in the nature of copyrights, rules, regulations and privacy issues which govern publishing posts and information through online media. This proviso certainly helps in building a social contract which binds its usage and sustains communities (Dorfman, 2006). Further inclusion of such proviso in the social media engagement policy helps providing an alarming signal to the employees about their transparency in the use of social media and directly sets up a virtual link with components such as Respect and Responsibility of the social media engagement policy which are regarded as the main components of the 3 R’s of social media engagement policy of Telstra and further highlights the importance of marketing communication mix of social media in today’s organizational context and scenario. Answer 5. Recently Telstra’s was much into news as one of its former employee named Leslie Nassar was found guilty of make a fake identification of his own in the name of Stephen Conroy who held the post of communication minister and Leslie is said to make many posts as if they were from the minister. Leslie admitted that he had made a total of 708 tweets in Twitter (one of a popular social networking site) and has been successful in attracting 1531 followers to his fake accounts who followed his tweets made. His tweets mainly aimed the measures which were to be taken for filtration of internet content as proposed by Australian Federal Government. This activity soon became a political issue and hyper the tension between Telstra and Federal Government who took a strict measure of excluding Telstra from the bidding process of over $10 billion National Broadband Network. Telstra as a measure to the same took disciplinary actions against the offender and came up with a new social media engagement policy with prime focus on the 3 R’s namely Responsibility, Representation and Respect. It was found that Leslie in no sense had made a breach of conduct in terms of his personal capacity of using social media as he never made a reference of his designation in the Telstra nor did he discuss any personal information of the company, but to add to the same with the new policy he is found be an offender of the “Representation Clause”, as his clarification of accepting his offence of using a fake identity made his comments to directly link with the company’s position and brought disrepute to the organization along with financial loss of losing a chance to bid in the National Broadband Network. The “Respect clause” has also been breached by Leslie as he indulged in making abusive comments and remarks once he was caught of using a false identity on Twitter and social media. The new policy clearly lays down all minute issues which could in any sense bring disrepute and detrimental damages to the company which was clearly breached in this case. It is however to be noted that the new social media engagement policy does not restricts its employees on the use of social media in their personal capacity however only limits the use of such media so as to ensure that roles and responsibilities of employees are clearly defined and they understand the ethical issues in a better way (Bass, 2007). In this case the offence was more related to bringing disrepute to the organization along with financial losses and a corporate question on the correct implication of ethical standards and corporate social responsibility of the organization. Conclusion This report focuses on the prime objective of providing the readers with a clear understanding of the various issues which emerges in social media in today’s environmental scenario. The report highlights the importance of social media engagement policy and inclusion of ethical standards in the same as ethics even apply to online contents. The report also provide readers with the importance of certain specific proviso in the engagement policy in terms of marketing communication perspective and finally discusses a case study which show the importance of 3 R’s in Telstra’s social media engagement policy to provide both theoretical and practical knowledge to the readers of the topic under study. Reference Bass, B. M. (2007). Does the transactional-transformational leadership paradigm transcend organizational and national boundaries? American Psychologist, 52(2), 130-139 Dorfman, P. W. (2006). International and cross-cultural leadership research. In B. J. Punnett & O. Shenkar (Eds.), Handbook for international management research (pp. 267-349). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Gagliardi, P. (2006). The creation and change of organizational cultures: A conceptual framework. Organization Studies, 7(2), 117-134 Hickson, D. J., Hinings, C. R., McMillan, J., & Schwitter. (2004). The culture-free context of organization structure: A tri-national comparison. Sociology 8, 59-80. Read More