Marc Harris, Chief Technical Officer at CrowdControlHQ examines the issues facing IT Directors from the use of social media
Many IT Directors have a personal Facebook and LinkedIn account, however, when it comes to corporate social media they pass it to the marketing department. But are IT Directors doing this at their peril?
Let me start with the elephant in the room – the role of the IT Director. After an extensive IT career in the media, telecommunication and technology sectors recent experience has led me to conclude that social media needs to be firmly at the top of the priority list of every IT Director.
In my current role I get to see first hand the impact of reputational damage, by both internal and external sources, through the use of social media and find it surprising how few IT Directors are willing to discuss the issues or attend conferences on the subject. Perhaps they feel an unwelcome interference or ‘elbowed out’ by this new communication channel which has evolved extensively under the umbrella of marketing?
In future the organisations which succeed in social media will have marketing and IT departments working seamlessly together to tackle the issues. The DNA of IT makes it the most qualified department to deal with some of the risk issues that surround social media, so why isn’t it more involved?
Today, social media is being used in every aspect of business from the boardroom right through to the delivery of customer service. By its very nature social media is a collective responsibility and not surprisingly its reliance on ‘collaboration’ has in some instances manifested itself as ‘sharing’ responsibility for posting of content – and even the sharing of passwords!
New Rules Apply
I overheard a social media officer quite gleefully boasting the fact that they had the twitter login for their company chairman. When challenged, the officer admitted that he was the chosen ONE! If he was off sick that was it – no tweets or updates! Worse if he left the organisation he had the power to bring the organisation down tweet by tweet (sound familiar….. anyone thinking HMV?).
This is the stuff that would have kept me awake at night as an IT Director, yet in a world powered by social engagement, new rules seem to apply!
Recent research also reported that apparently a scarily large number of employees still use the dreaded ‘post it’ note to record their login usernames and passwords, stuck to walls, desks and even the computer screen. Apparently, we are not coping well with the need to access everything online from social media to our weekly shop and fear our mobile devices could get pinched, so are reverting to paper and pen!
This practice can only end in tears. There have now been too many examples of ‘rogue’ tweets, no audit trail of who posted them (or why) and organisations, who should have known better, being left rosy cheeked, so why is this practice still so rife? Why would an employee, with their job on the line, ‘fess up’ when they know that at least 15 other people had access to the account that day?
I also believe that few IT departments have a handle on the number of users across their ‘official’ social media accounts, let alone a log of which password protocol they are using, how they are accessing or posting.
Look Both Ways
But we can’t just blame the employees. Even organisations with the most robust and celebrated IT protocols let themselves down when it comes to simple issues such as data storage. I suspect very few IT Directors are crystal clear about where their marketing communications teams are storing their social media campaigns? Let alone have an understanding of the conversations from the past that they may need to reference in the future or where they keep their notes about their customers linked to these campaigns? I would hazard a guess that many IT departments are breaking their own compliance and governance issues when it comes to social media.
Today there is no need to share passwords. The social media savvy have cottoned on to tiered password access, with both the IT and marketing departments having an ‘on/off’ switch to give them instant control in times of crisis. If IT is involved in the installation of a Social Media Management Solution (SMMS) they can see exactly who is plugged into the system, where accountability lies and who they need to train and develop to uphold the security protocols needed to keep an organisation’s reputation intact.
Within the scope of most IT budgets a SMMS will be a drop in the ocean but will address these major issues. Any smart IT Director will be already looking at a SMMS if there isn’t already one in place. Such a system gives control back to the organisation. All passwords are held in one place so accounts are not owned by individuals, but by the company. The right system gives an organisation the ability to moderate content at a senior level, so the risk of misuse or mistakes can be eradicated.
A SMMS also takes care of the practical management issues. I fear that some organisations are taking a step backwards in terms of their technological evolution, reverting to time wasting, ineffective manual processing of social media e.g. multiple logins to different social media platforms rather than using readily available tools for automation and effectiveness.
The message is clear IT Directors ignore social media at their peril. It is time to wake up, check and challenge when it comes to corporate social engagement.
I am really interested to hear your views so please do post your comments below or join our LinkedIn group and connect with me.
