To: Dr. Stice
From: Damaris Li
Date: 7th September 2015
Subject: Social media policy of IBM
The social media policy I reviewed was the International Business Machines Corporation , referring as IBM (https://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html ).
The headline clearly states that a guideline for “social Computing’ follows. The lower headline names all social media’s that are in use. On the right side is a link, where people can report inappropriate content via email. The article is divided in three sections: Introduction, IBM social computer guidelines and detailed discussions. The last two sections have highlighted headlines that summarize the explanation, for example “Be thoughtful about how you present yourself in online social networks’, followed by a more detailed description. In the description are examples how to avoid legal actions. The employees have to respect the law of the country, copy right law and respect others: “For IBM’s protection and well as your own, it is critical that you show proper respect for the laws governing copyright and fair use of copyrighted material owned by others’. The sentences are short and easy to understand, the construction of the article is logic and the site setup is clear and not cluttered. The reader can easily navigate between the three sections and highlighted headlines.
The tone of the Guidelines is positive:’We believe that IBMers can both derive and provide important benefits from exchanges of perspective’, but with a clear warning not to hurt IBM in any way. At the Introduction the company explains that a employee has to respect the interests of the company: “However, activities in or outside of work that adversely affect your IBM job performance, the performance of others, or IBM’s legitimate business interests are a proper focus for company policy’. IBM also has a special advice for its manager and executives, to be really carefully when in public: “By virtue of their position, they must consider whether personal thoughts they publish may be misunderstood as expressing IBM position’. The reader gets the impression, that IBM respects the private opinion and its expression of the employees: “IBM fully respects the legal rights of our employees in all countries in which we operate’.
IBM sees and values the potential of social media and gives a clear and well written guideline for its employees. I would feel comfortable to abide this police, because I know the boundaries and IBM encourages the social communication between employees and people they are working with. They also encourage their employees to correct false information about IBM in the Internet and do so with respect, facts and identification as IBM employee: “Always do so with respect, stick to the facts and identify your appropriate affiliation to IBM’. The corporation also gives advice how to correct own mistakes. It shows IBM is aware of two important things: First, people are humans and make mistakes. Second, mistakes lead to trust issues. Correcting a failure can gain the trust back. “If you make an error, be up front about your mistake and correct it quickly, as this can help to restore trust.’
~Damaris Li