social networking

Using email well

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A couple of months ago, Jan Barned, our erstwhile policy advisor on the ITM CoE, sent around an email from Jane O’Connor, the new editor of InTheBlack, that talked of the virtues of having ’email-free’ days in the office.

Most of us on the CoE had a slightly different view, particularly since what tends to happen is that if you have an email-free day, the next day is spent picking up the pieces of all the emails you missed the previous day.

Our mostly tongue-in-cheek responses ended up in the September ITB:

September 2008:  Downtime – a day away

In case you are wondering why there is a reference in Shauna’s and my email to a ‘Danish Rock band’.,  This is because, taking my own advice that I’m giving at the social networking workshop in October to use Google Alerts, I’d just received an email to alert me to the fact that my daughter may perhaps have joined a Danish rockband (it’s an occupational hazard, given the surname – I’m less Danish than Jock ‘Tag the Haggis’ McTavish).  This amused me somewhat, as she is only three and unlikely to join a rock band unless Dora the Explorer was the lead singer.

There are three types of email:  Email that is really a ‘for your action (fya)’, email that is really a ‘for your information (fyi)’ and email that is perhaps intended to amuse (‘ZOMG TMI’).

Such an email falls into the third category of email:  useless anecdotes intended to amuse.

I thought the article was genuinely amusing in its final form, not least because our emails came back to bite us in an unedited form :).

Online social networking: do accountants play this game?

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The question was asked on the CPA Congress blog, ‘Can accountants really add business value using these type of approaches ? I am sceptical about all of this?’.

See the original post here: Online Social Networking.

This is how I personally would respond to this question – you may take issue with what I’m saying, so feel free to drop me a comment below. I’m probably wrong, people are always telling me that.

Thanks for your comment. I think I see a couple of aspects to your question here. I may though have misunderstood the question – so please let me know if I’m wrong. I think you’re focusing on the policy approach in your question?

In addition to the policy approach, the workshop does also talk about some practical etiquette in online social networking (in fact, a chunk of the workshop is around this – half of it is on how to act in a social networking environment, and the other half is how the business responds, the Best Live Casinos UK are popular and stable on online sites and it keeps growing with time, networking now can be seen anywhere online, as there are many sites for this because people love gambling so you can actually go to the olympic kingsway casinos to have a good time. A safe environment can be navigated at the Casino Zeus website, where they can enjoy and relax while playing. Since an alarmingly large number of accountants do seem to have friends, they do seem to use online social networking as well . A misstep in this space can result in a fairly tragic career-limiting move. So I think all accountants would profit from doing this part of the workshop.

Regarding the policy approach, the first aspect I see is whether accountants should be in the role of developing policies & procedures around social networking. As a general rule inside the business, I suppose you’re correct that pure accountants don’t get involved in this sort of thing. However, I would say that CPAs are a broad church and many members are not so much pure accountants as general managers (I’m sure I saw a stat on that somewhere). So – certainly not all CPAs, but some, would be/could be/should be involved in developing a response, or at least understand what the issues involved are. Since the CPAs tag line is ‘We mean business’, if social networking is a business issue then CPAs should be across it.

Secondly, I’d also suggest that there is still a fair bit to be learnt in all levels of business as to the potential impact of online social networking on businesses – it’s still an emerging business issue, and awareness is still low. So there’s a contribution to be made if someone wants to find out more about social networking and what they should be doing about it (the actual result after the workshop might very well be: nothing).

The third aspect of your question seems to be is whether ‘these types of approaches’ (perhaps in the hands only of accountants?) add business value. There are two aspects to the approach I’ve put out there – ‘policies & procedures’ and the ‘AS/NZS 4360:2004’. Policies and procedures are probably necessary if you’re going to have any type of ability to monitor behaviour in a legal manner, so I think the end result has to be a policy & procedure framework. That’s a generally accepted business approach. As for AS/NZS 4360, that is a fairly formal tool to adopt, but when you distil business down to its absolutely purest of essence, it is the value that the business gets and the risk you have to take to get it. 4360 provides a framework for risk, so we might as well use it as a starting point to work out what’s appropriate for the business – establish what we want, identify risks, estimate risk level, evaluate the risks and treat the risks. It is formal, but in my experience lawyers like ‘formal’ when you’re in court defending some action you’ve taken.

You’re right to be sceptical – this is an emerging area still, and I’d certainly not claim that all accountants should be undertaking this role inside a business. Or even that they should all come to the workshop. But I’d suggest most accountants need to be aware of the issues involved in online social networking at least, and at the worst someone walks out thinking ‘yep, I’ll flag this to the HR guys’.

Thanks: Micheal Axelsen

Hmmm.  I do dribble on don’t I?

A ‘Guest Post’ for CPA Congress

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A little while ago CPA Australia requested that I write a guest post for them for publication on the CPA Congress blog (cpacongress.wordpress.com), with the purpose of promoting my upcoming social networking workshop in Melbourne on social networking.  That post went live on Friday.  You can find the guest post at http://cpacongress.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/online-social-networking/, and I reproduce the post here for posterity, who I am sure will be so grateful they will come down to the retirement home to turn off Wheel of Fortune 2050AD. 

Looking forward to giving the workshop in Octobrer.

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It’s all fun until someone loses an eye. Then – it’s a sport.

In the same way, online social networking started out all in good fun. Somehow, online social networking moved away from the thumbs of tech-savvy Gen Y and into mainstream media. When someone lost their job though because of something they did online that their boss didn’t like, social networking became business. Nowadays it feels like there are tabloid journalists searching Facebook, MySpace and YouTube looking for a new angle and a new career to destroy – but that may perhaps be paranoid. Still, if you’re into muck-raking it’s more effective than going through someone’s wheelie-bin dumpster-diving for dirt – it’s cleaner, there are fewer pizza cartons involved, and it can all be done from the desk with a few mouse-clicks.

People do some silly things on online social networking websites. People also carry out private conversations in public forums. These activities can sometimes affect a business. All too frequently people are afflicted by a lack of common sense when they use online social networking websites like MySpace, YouTube and FaceBook (and at least 126 other social networking websites according to Wikipedia). When common sense flies out the window, the business can pay the price.

Ask the teacher who posted ‘lewd’ photos on Facebook the price of tabloid infamy (what, 12 year-olds don’t Google?). Ask the new owner of a motor dealership who did not know that a previous customer had written an online post advising prospective customers to ‘avoid them like the plague’ – three years on, it’s still there and showing up when new customers Google the dealership. Ask the owner of the store how she feels about the time a customer ‘twittered’ about bad service – before the customer had even left the store, the message was received by 789 of her ‘followers’. Then you could ask the shareholders of a company whose support technician was videoed asleep on a customer’s couch – and then the video posted to YouTube. Of course, that’s just plain funny, but it can’t be helping the brand strategy, can it?

There may also be some regrets for the partner of a consulting firm whose photo was posted online by a member of his staff – complete with his Hitler moustache, swastika, and doing a Nazi salute. Not a good look – but it’s still there, so maybe he doesn’t know about it! Or the married couple, a photograph of whom was uploaded to Photobucket – they were passionately kissing at the office Christmas party. Their main concern was that they were married, yes, just not to each other. I’m sure I don’t need to discuss the ‘Vlog Naked’ campaign. You get the drift.

Some of these firms know that these things have appeared online. Many businesses though do not know. In fact, when it comes to social networking, some businesses are slower on the uptake than a turkey at Thanksgiving.

What can businesses do about their online reputation?

There is hope! Those attending CPA Congress this year have the opportunity to participate in a workshop I am running called ‘Facebook, MySpace, YouTube & Flickr – managing and leveraging the business impact of social networking sites’ on Thursday 16 October. It’s not a great title, but at least it’s descriptive. This is a companion workshop to a forthcoming CPA Australia Information Technology & Management Centre of Excellence publication – a Guide to managing the business challenges that arise from online social networking.

This workshop provides an overview of social networking, discusses practical steps people can take to ensure their personal privacy, and walks through a process that businesses can use to develop policies and procedures that mitigate the negative impact of online social networking. The workshop also provides an insight into some of the potential business applications of online social networking. As a result, attendees at this workshop will be able to respond to the business challenge of social networking according to their requirements, and receive some practical pointers in helping their staff understand what they should and shouldn’t do online.

This workshop also promises to be a bit of fun – honestly, you never knew how much fun you could have with AS/NZS 4360:2004, did you? At the end of the workshop, participants will definitely have a firmer insight into online social networking and how to ensure that this new technology works for the business, not against it. Attending this workshop will equip you with the basic tools to use online social networking safely and to develop a policy approach that will limit the impact of online social networking upon the business.

Micheal Axelsen FCPA is Director of Applied Insight Pty Ltd and provides business systems consulting advice to clients. Micheal will be presenting ‘Facebook, MySpace, YouTube & Flickr – managing and leveraging the business impact of social networking sites’ at CPA Victoria Congress on 16th October 2008.

CPA Congress 2008

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Very happy to be invited to post a blog entry for CPA Australia on the Congress 2008 blog.  The post is to be ‘conversational’ – I wonder if they know how conversational I can be? – and will be about the social networking policy and procedure guide I am writing for CPA Australia.