Corporate America’s Fear of Legal Repercussions with LinkedIn Recommendations Isn’t What It Truly Fears

I recently read the following WSJ.com article titled: Online Compliments Can Haunt You Too (September 18, 2009).   The article explains that corporate attorneys are counseling their client companies’ employees NOT TO write recommendations in social networking sites like LinkedIn for fear of possible future legal repercussions.

To a certain degree, I believe there may be some merit to the points mentioned by the attorney consulted for the piece.  However, the attorney’s advice to “prohibit managers from commenting” so a corporate Human Resources (HR) Department can more easily engage in CYA activity is something I find downright disappointing and insulting.  Yes, there are legal implications to everything in Corporate America but I think there’s something going on here with far more significant root causes: 

Corporate America Fears the Unknown and How Social Networking Makes Talented Employees More Mobile Than Ever
Organizations all over America are absolutely scared and driven by fear about the implications associated with integrating social media into their overall marketing strategies. This pervasive fear is so strong that I sometimes wonder if large organizations will ever truly embrace social media.  I think this David Meerman Scott article titled, FEAR, captures my concerns perfectly.

Furthermore, talented employees who understand how to leverage social networking’s power and reach scares the hell out of Corporate America.  Smart people who understand the new rules of social media possess a distinct advantage in promoting their skills and capabilities to potential employers (particularly their current employers’ most feared competitors).  Smart companies find these Web 2.0-savvy individuals and discreetly contact them about opportunities via LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook.  How ironic that a talented middle- or senior-level manager well-versed in social networking gains the leverage to “fire their current employer” even in these challenging economic times.  I’m not the only person who thinks this way.  Take a look at this insightful piece from Jonathan Fields in The Career Renegade Blog titled, The Real Reason Companies Are Terrified of Social Media.

Social Networks and Personal Blogs Significantly Decrease the Opportunity Costs of Connecting to Better Career Propsects
If these potential employers are easily finding these social networkers via online search, the potential employer validates that the employee candidate understands Inbound Marketing concepts.  It’s a successful litmus test for filtering out who can “walk-the-walk.”     

Conducting a job search always takes significant time if it’s the candidate who is initiating contact and trying to gain access to a future employer.  However, what happens when the prospective employer is the one who initiates contact and grants access via a LinkedIn Message or a Twitter Direct Message?  I’ll tell you exactly what happens – all time-related opportunity costs associated with conducting a job search drastically drop.  The savvy social networker is actively courted.  It’s his/her email box that gets filled with requests (not the other way around).  These individuals invested their time on the “front-end” by publishing blog posts and “tweets” that illustrate their love of social media strategy and their understanding of how SM fits into an integrated, multiple channel marketing campaign. 

For all you Twitter Haters who think Twitter is for people with too much time on their hands – think again.  This September 7, 2009 WSJ.com article titled, A New Job Just a Tweet Away, explains how smart companies are incorporating Web 2.0 strategies in their recruiting processes.  In addition, a May 2009 JobVite Survey validates how companies are turning to social networking for employee referrals in today’s economy.  According to the survey results, companies are using a number of online resources to research talented candidates in 2009:

·     76% will use LinkedIn

·     67% will use search engines (i.e., Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.) – If you don’t already have a Google Profile, get one now by going here.

·     44% will use Facebook

·     21% will use Twitter

Blogging and Other Published Online Content Becomes a Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Asset for a Talented Employee
If you want to build an online reputation as a Thought Leader in a specific professional area, start writing a blog. Currently, blogging is the fastest and most efficient way to build an asset actively promoting your expertise. Publishing thoughtful and meaningful content takes time, but it’s a worthy investment.  Anything you publish online gets indexed in Google and becomes a professional asset.  For example, my LinkedIn Profile, Google Profile, Twitter Profile, Twitter Tweets, and blog comments I’ve catalogued on BackType.com rank highly in Google Search Results for “Tony Faustino.”

If you’re still employed, now is the time to blog about your personal expertise!  Don’t wait till you get laid off or downsized to build your online professional assets.  One of my favorite David Meerman Scott blog posts is titled, “Downsized? Fired? Here are the New Rules of Finding a Job.”  I especially think the reader comments submitted in David’s blog post offer important career advice.  Pay particular attention to the ones suggesting that content creation should begin while you are still employed.  Creating this content while you’re employed demonstrates your passion for participating in Web 2.0.  That’s an important differentiator among all other job candidates particularly when you’re already balancing the demands of a full-time job.

Comments

[David Meerman Scott]

I think corporations are too scared of being sued. In particular legal eagles tie the hands of people when it comes to social media. Seems as humans we are always scared of the unknown. I'm fine if lawyers understand social media, but the vast majority do not. So that;s like me commenting on the law. Stupid.

[job search]

If there is something new (although not that new, actually), it's always difficultto get it launched in companies but when finally it's done, well, it'll turn out to be of great use. But there will always be people or organizations with conservative way of thinking and it'll be difficult for them tj adjust themselves to any improvements.

[Tony Faustino]

@Job Search: I agree. Companies are typically very conservative in trying out new social media technologies in their marketing. It's almost as if they're willing to let others be the 1st movers in hopes that those companies will fail -- that's disappointing and a quick recipe for falling behind your competitors (in my opinion). I think you and David correctly honed in on the fact that FEAR is driving so much of this conservative behavior.