If Your Sky Falls, It Won't Be Because of Social Media

I attended a local SHRM chapter meeting Thursday to hear the latest on developing social media case law, progressive approaches businesses have taken with social media use. I expected to hear excitement and possibility. Instead, I heard fear and trepidation.

Perpetuating Fear

The social media = fear apple may not fall far from the HR tree. In his post, Fear and Social Media, Mark Stelzner shares comments that SHRM's 2010 Employment Law and Legislative Conference covered the use of social media to spy on employees, blocking of popular social media sites and the general risks to broad adoption. Bloggers Mike Vandervort and Joan Ginsberg rant about the same.

Disappointing to hear on a national level, this message was frustrating to listen to at a local level. The two attorneys at our chapter meeting discussed social media in a "sky is falling" kind of way. One was not aware of Twitter until she developed her presentation and the other was not engaged with any social media tools. It goes to credibility my friends and for me, there was little. (Note: I had to leave early so did not hear the entire presentation.)

As frustrating as the presentation was, it was just as disheartening to look around the room and see HR professionals appear to be taking this all in. Maybe some were, and maybe some weren't, but even one HR professional buying into the social media = fear discussion is too much.

It doesn't have to be this way

Change, perceived loss of power and lack of knowledge and understanding can equal fear but social media should not. HR professionals, you don't blindly accept opinions of others without first understanding something about it yourself first, do you? Don't start doing so with social media. 

Got attorneys? Getting advice? Take it under advisement. Attorneys mitigate risk and while I value that perspective greatly, I know it is only one perspective. Yes, even the obedient little rule follower in me questions and questions and questions. I've got to know the upper and lower ends of my risk scale to make an informed decision and know that the best attorneys are the ones who will engage in that conversation with me. I don't buy into fear.

Next Steps 

Above all, be the voice of reason. Ditch the chicken little attorneys, learn everything you can about social media, and make your own informed decisions. Be prepared to provide the leadership necessary to successfully address the social media questions facing your organization, and if the decision is to adopt, to implement the practices right for you and your organization. 

If you don't, someone else will. Then your sky really may fall.

Photo credit iStockPhoto

Comments

[Michael VanDervort]

This whole notion of HR pros resisting or fearing social media is frustrating, and probably just another big echo chamber discussion amongst us users, because until people have an imperative, they won't embrace something that makes them uncomfortable. We shouldn't give up trying, but I am sure we are not talking to the right people, including SHRM.

[fran melmed]

lisa,

the fear felt by HR is also felt by communication professionals, interestingly enough. it's also felt by local officials, as i just wrote about after running into a flash mob (by accident!) this past saturday eve: http://ow.ly/1pLjr.

philly's experienced a rash of flash mobs and two councilmen sought to sue twitter and facebook after the last one. their reaction reminded me of employers who deny access to their employees, fearing the tools instead of preparing their employees for appropriate and advantageous use of them.

f

[Joan Ginsberg]

I found this frustrating at the national level, but I am most concerned about the locals and how we can help to change these perspectives. My local gave a presentation that involved a 3 person panel ,with one attorney. The attorney was VERY reasoned and was supportive of the use of SM with a little bit of caution. It was the HR audience/attendees that just didn't want to listen. Sad.

Dee Honner and I are going to discuss how to reach local SHRM at HRevolution. Join us.

[Deirdre]

My Grand Rapids SHRM doesn't even have SM as a topic on the calendar this year in our monthly meetings. That's NUTS! Why is this so hard? I would really love to hear the responses.

[HRMargo]

Great post Lisa. I work with attorneys. I concur with your thoughts. I subscribe to your blog, and it's posts like this that make me glad I do.

[Paul DeBettignies | MN Headhunter]

I know this guy in Minneapolis who would like to give the opposing view :)

[Andrea Ballard]

Social media is here to stay. I just don't see any way around it, despite our fears! Students graduating from college use it for everything. Other (non-HR) associations and clubs I belong to use Facebook and LinkedIn to schedule events and facilitate member discussions.

As an HR practitioner, my issues around social media revolve around the fact that sometimes social networking turns into "social not-working." Are these the same people who used to spend tons of time on personal phone calls when cell phones became the rage? Probably. I had a boss 20 years ago who insisted he was reading the business pages in the newspaper every morning at his desk. We all knew he was actually doing the crossword puzzle! These days he's probably playing Wordscraper on Facebook.

Social media is a technology tool; one that our employees increasingly rely upon and have great fondness for. Rather than create a barrier between the HR department and the staff, we need to find ways to educate our employees on using social media to get their jobs done better, faster, and more efficiently.

[Nancy J Hess]

Lisa, I am with you on this (don't let fear stand in the way of hidden treasures) but if recent research by Microsoft is to be believed, HR has some of the worst offenders in its ranks. (see www.microsoft.com/privacy/dpd/default.aspx) 85% of the HR professionals in the US are using online sources of info to influence their hiring decisions; 70% have rejected applicants based on this info; and yet ONLY 7% OF JOB APPLICANTS believes their online reputation affected the employer's decision to hire. And stunningly, 90% of HR professionals expressed concerns that the information they were gleaning was unreliable or unverifiable. And, what about irrelevant! For example, they actually report that inappropriate posts made on potential candidate sites by family members influenced them.