Family Business from Entrepreneurial to Managerial to Professional +Social Media

“An office worker was fired after her employer discovered her sex blog. A waitress was fired for venting about a customer on Facebook. A woman lost a job offer at Cisco because of something she said on Twitter. These incidents illustrate why it might be wise to create a social media policy for our employees.”

Social media includes web-based and mobile based technologies which are used to turn communication into interactive dialogue between organizations, communities, and individuals. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 , and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.” Social media is ubiquitously accessible, and enabled by scalable communication techniques.

“May 15 – GM pulls Facebook ads. The Wall Street Journal said that General Motors plans to stop advertising on the social-networking site, saying the company’s marketing executives determined their paid ads had little impact on consumers.” The social media scene changes minute by minute.

As a Family Business grows from Entrepreneurial to Managerial to Professional, social media can present challenges. Some points to ponder include, does the business need a social media policy. Crossover is a term used in family business. It refers to keeping relationships separate. You don’t mix Father and son relationships with leaders and subordinate. People who are successful working with family separate the roles so you don’t get into family behavior when you’re talking about business. You have business discussions and personal life, and never the twain shall meet. That’s really hard to do, but it’s also vital. Social media can blur these lines that are best kept clear. In another time, physical location could help keep the lines clear. No talking about business at home. In the social media virtual world, there may be no physical locations!

One of the challenges is the balance of employee, employer relationships. Evaluations Strategic performance management systems cut across company levels, linking strategic, operational and individual performance management. Individual performance management starts to be aligned to corporate strategies, to create a clear line of sight. Business can never be all at arm’s length, business factors, personal factors influence decisions. It’s naive and distracting to pretend they don’t.

Try to be aware of how and when they do and manage the long-term objectives accordingly. Educating everyone on the companies social media policy will help to curb mishaps. Never stop learning. A serious key in social media and companies policies; is be smart for yourself. Protect your privacy, your personal information and remember the internet with its search engines has a long memory…