For this assignment I looked at the social media use policy for the technology company Intel Corporation. Overall, the policy is positive, uses approachable language, clearly describes who the policy applies too, but overall I felt there were some major communication flaws in its writing. Some parts were too vague or difficult to understand due to overly casual language use.
One negative aspect of the policy was the use of some non-specific words in vague contexts that did not convey a clear meaning. One example was a bulleted rule under the section “Protect’. It said “don’t overshare’ because “once you hit ‘share’, you usually can’t get it back’. The word “overshare’ is a general term that describes giving out too much personal information in any context of communication. The phrase to “hit share’ is specifically in reference to posting something on a social media website. Does this rule mean not to share personal information such as gossip? Does this mean not to post too often? Since this rule is under the header “Protect’ is it referring to trade secrets? Perhaps this was an attempt at adding humor or a casual attitude to the guidelines. Regardless of intent, this part of the guidelines was unclear.
There were several other parts of this policy that seemed overly casual. One rule uses the title “Did you screw up?’, a phrase that is a somewhat unprofessional. A second rule says “don’t slam the competition: play nice’. It would seem more appropriate and clear to say “don’t overly criticize our competitors on social media,’ and “it is important to maintain a professional working relationship with these companies because we share many similarities’. The phrases “screw up’, “slam’, and “play nice’ are colloquialisms and people reading the policy would need to infer the greater professional context from. This might not be clear to everyone, particularly people for who English is a second language.
While the policy did a sufficient job of describing who the policy applies to and where to seek help if you are unsure about part of the policy, it does not definitively describe why the policy is necessary for the company. Vague statements are made like, “Do us proud!’ and in general leaves the reasoning unsaid such that it needs to be inferred. Describing why the policy is necessary would help employees better understand the bigger picture of how their actions effect the company and would likely help employees better represent the company in other aspects of their lives once they have that awareness.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/legal/intel-social-media-guidelines.html