The most conservative option

This jumped at me in a comment from one of my favorite bloggers, Allison Greene at Ask A Manager:

"Most attorneys will always first recommend the safest, most legally conservative course of action. That doesn't mean that it's the best one; it needs to be balanced against other competing interests -- legal interests are not the only ones in play."

It's funny that I've never thought of it in those terms before. My response to such extreme legal advice is usually something along the lines of, "What? That's ridiculous!"

Example:

HR: "According to our attorney, if we ask employees to respond to questions on our Facebook Fan Page, we could be held responsible for information on their profiles. So we are going to ask all staff to have a separate work Facebook account."

Me: "What? That's ridiculous!"

As you can see, my current response is not exactly helpful nor likely to produce results. I think it will be nice to at least have the ability to respond, "Yes, that would be the most legally conservative option, but I'm not sure it's the best one for our situation. Let's look at some other factors..."

That sounds significantly more reasonable.

Thanks again, Ask A Manager!

Getting employees on board

I need advice. At our organization, I am heading up our "social media efforts." Basically, I run our Twitter and Facebook fan page. I also do a fair amount of research and have an ambient awareness of what's going on in the social media world. I have a basic grasp of what everyone else is doing, and as part of Gen Y, I adapt to these tools pretty easily and am intrinsically convinced of their value.

My boss is incredibly supportive of using social media, and she takes a fairly hand-off approach. I am flattered and think it's fantastic she trusts me to take control. However, I am a peon in the organization, having no clout beyond worker bee. Plus, I am young, 24. I think I look and act a little older than that, but people sometimes still treat me like a baby--laugh about my childish lunches and my naive optimism. That doesn't bother me so much, but it does indicate that I am perceived as a child, which greatly impacts my credibility.

That being said, I am not sure how to convince other employees of the value of using tools like Facebook. Right now I am the only employee engaged with the page, and I'm doing it from behind the avatar of our logo.

You know and I know that social media is most effective when it adds a personal element to the organization, when people are connecting to people. They want to see faces, talk to real staff members. In order for that to happen, staff will need to use their personal accounts to interact with the page.

I've tossed this idea out to a few coworkers, and I keep getting the same reaction. "No, that's my personal page. I don't want to mix it with work." And I can almost see that I-can't-believe-this-silly-young-whipper-snapper-with-her-crazy-ideas look on their face.

I understand where they're coming from. Really, I do. But (big but) that mindset needs to end. With all the privacy controls available, there should really be no reason not to expect employees to use their faces to interact with the organization's social media.

And so working under that assumption, I come to you for advice. What insight can you offer? What techniques have you used to convince others? What tips do you have for a young person to inspire confidence in her skeptical coworkers?

I'm open to hear anything you have to offer. Thanks for your help!