This morning I was fortune enough to be part of a great MCN presentation team with Meg Canada and Lindsi Gish, who are both rockstars. We talked about using social media for nonprofits, and I was spouting one of my favorite beliefs - that employers need to trust employees to have personalities while representing their organization online - when I realized that I brazenly contradict that viewpoint in my own management of social media profiles.
In one breath, I'm saying that we want employees to self identify and tell their stories. In the next: "Oh me? No, I don't like to broadcast who my employer is on my personal accounts. I want to represent me, not Girl Scouts."
Naturally, it's because some information is not suitable to Girl Scout ears - while Meghan may think that an article debunking Cosmo's most recent hot tips is both interesting and relevant, I highly doubt Girl Scouts feels the same way.
So I once again end up at the same question I've asked a hundred times before: Whose responsibility is it to bend? Should I turn myself into a good Girl Scout online - talking only about the nicest, safest, most vanilla things - because I'm a representative of my employer? Or should Girl Scouts be willing to become an amalgam of their employees' collective personalities - articles about sex myths included?
It's a tough line to walk as an individual. It seems like I should be able to have my own personality, but thinking about it further - does my personality belong to my employer online?
What do you think? How much of yourself should you be willing to subjugate for your employer?
I, for one, am stumped.
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I was there this morning (great job!) and agree with your thoughts. It is hard to navigate. Especially as a PR/Communications person...where my job is to be the mouth of the organization. I do have to be cautious to think about what I am saying, to whom and where. But then again that applies in offline communications, too. I think it's a bit different for those who aren't official spokespeople. There is probably more give and take there.
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