Content is an extremely valuable asset for organizations; so much so that most have established guidelines and procedures defining how it should be developed and distributed. Yet with the emergence of Social Media, organizations large and small are faced with this question: “How should an organization respond to the prospect that virtually anyone can create and distribute content?”

Ultimately, there are three ways organizations can respond.

1. Ignore it and pretend that it does not exist (sadly, the most common response).
2. Establish strict policies, procedures, and guidelines that drive people away and discourage use.
3. Embrace it and seek ways to effectively implement it.

Unfortunately, most organizations have embraced either the ignore it or over-regulate it path when faced with creating a response to Social Media. However, some organizations, like Sun Microsystems, have responded appropriately by acknowledging the value of Social Media and establishing initial guidelines to establish expectations for using these tools. Let’s take a look at what they have done well.

If you visit www.sun.com/communities/guidelines.jsp you will see that Sun has published its “Guidelines on Public Discourse.” There are three things that become quickly apparent as one reads this note.

1. Sun acknowledges that Social Media tools can change way people work, and people should be using them. In fact, this message becomes obvious as soon as visitors enter the site: “Many of us at Sun are doing work that could change the world. Contributing to online communities by blogging, wiki posting, participating in forums, etc., is a good way to do this. You are encouraged to tell the world about your work, without asking permission first, but we expect you to read and follow the advice in this note.”
2. Sun believes that Social Media has great value in creating and enabling conversations. “Remember the Web is all about links; when you see something interesting and relevant, link to it; you’ll be doing your readers a service, and you’ll also generate links back to you; a win-win.“
3. There is a place for guidelines and acceptable practices in the world of free thought. By offering advice on how to write content, use other people’s content, and discuss company-related issues, Sun establishes a baseline for conduct while giving people the liberty to be themselves.

As you begin to build you Social Media strategy, we would recommend that you check out Sun’s Guidelines and use them as a reference. They have done an excellent job in carefully outlining baseline expectations, while not hindering people from using Social Media. As always, we would like to hear what you think. Use the comments link below to discuss.

Tags: Social Media, Social Media Content, Social Media Guidelines

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 8:17 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.