Social media in the workplace

A veteran software architect and father of five, Tim Wolf is pretty freewheeling on Twitter.

Within just a few posts, @lowcountrywolf, as he's known on the microblogging site, will promote one of BoomTown's real estate products, then curse, post a photograph of beers or comment frankly on a news story.

While many employers might cringe at such casual mixing of business and personal lives, Wolf doesn't seem too concerned. And, neither does BoomTown.

The Charleston-based company, which recently was named the 18th fastest-growing software company by Inc. magazine, has a beer keg refrigerator at its Rutledge Avenue offices, a photo of which CEO Grier Allen shared on his Twitter account.

"I try to use my best judgment. I'm not too terribly worried about it, though," Wolf said.

But what if he really crossed the line?

"They would say, 'That was pretty dumb, maybe you should think about what you're doing next time,' " Wolf said. "This isn't Riyadh; I'm not going to get my hand cut off."

BoomTown's laissez-faire approach to employees' social media usage sits on one side of the spectrum while bigger, older Charleston companies sit on the other, with more stringent online policies.

Figuring it out

Even though Twitter, Facebook and their ilk have been around for years, it seems many companies still are trying to figure out exactly how to use social media for good while guarding against embarrassing or harmful misuses.

Local software titans Blackbaud Inc. and BenefitFocus said they held company meetings just last week about social media strategies, though they seemed to be more focused on company campaigns rather than drawing up new prohibitions, spokeswomen for the Daniel Island-based companies said.

And the potential pitfalls on sites such as Twitter and Facebook have been illustrated recently by a series of cases brought by the National Labor Relations Board, the same federal agency that alleged, until this month, Boeing violated labor law by building its North Charleston 787 assembly plant.

In those instances, people who were fired for job-related online postings have won some measure of recompense under the theory that they were engaging in protected, concerted activity with their co-workers.

"So we see employers scrambling to deal with it," Nexsen Pruet attorney William Floyd said during a webinar on social media issues last week. "We also see the employees encouraged by the ability to share information. And we see the National Labor Relations Board involved in the interaction between the two."

Perhaps opposite from BoomTown is Boeing Co., which carefully controls its public image and messages. Everything from speaking engagements to the use of social media is covered by the company policy on the release of information, said Candy Eslinger, spokeswoman for the aircraftmaker's South Carolina operation.

For example, a Boeing employee with a personal Facebook page "can't release information on the company itself, production schedules, company proprietary data or proprietary information, any information that could have an adverse effect on the company's reputation" or relationships, Eslinger said.

Blackbaud, like Boeing, would not provide a copy of its policies, but the developer of software for the nonprofit industry has an "electronic communications policy ... and social media is just a piece of that," said spokeswoman Melanie Mathos.

According to both Boeing South Carolina and Blackbaud, violations of company policies could result in corrective action, up to termination.

But as with other companies surveyed, there haven't been any such incidents, they said.

Different strokes

The Charleston Regional Development Alliance, on the other hand, devotes two pages in its personnel manual specifically to social media, wherein the public-private marketing group offers context for its rules.

"Many organizations are adopting social media policies, recognizing that online media allows for words and images to spread very quickly," the manual says. "While this is often an advantage of social media, it also can be a detriment and must be taken seriously in a business context."

"We do not intend to prohibit staff members from participating in social media," it continues a paragraph later. "We do, however, ask them to use good judgment when posting or otherwise using social media or a social or professional networking site."

Alliance spokeswoman Claire Gibbons has noticed social media policies tend to track with an employer's culture. Some use Twitter for customer service; others block employees' access to certain sites.

"Communication companies tend to be more aware of the benefits of a more relaxed social media policy," Gibbons said. "If you talk to a law firm or a corporation, depending on who they are, they'll be a little more conservative."

BoomTown, which has 35 employees compared with Boeing's roughly 5,000 local workers or Blackbaud's 1,100, hasn't reached the same level of formalization, said BoomTown spokeswoman Donna Parrish.

"We're definitely at a point where we need to start establishing those guidelines," Parrish said. "But it's not high on (the) priority list yet."

Company policy

Such policies are likely to become more common as more and more people and companies are using social media.

According to a survey performed last year by Impact!, a local public relations firm, and another published in April, at least 80 percent of businesses -- more in the marketing field -- are using social media.

Kate Lewis, director of marketing and communications at BenefitFocus, said the health care software company wants its employees online.

"I wouldn't say that we encourage it during the workday, but we don't discourage it," Lewis said. "It's just a great way to build brand awareness out there."

Lewis said BenefitFocus, which has almost 700 employees, plans to use social media even more in 2012, from posting more frequently on the company's YouTube channel to using LinkedIn more as a recruiting tool.

Blackbaud's social media program features, among other channels, multiple Twitter handles: one for company and nonprofit sector news, one for supporting customers and others for its international offices. It even has a social media product for nonprofits.

Boeing's 787 Dreamliner campus in North Charleston is also in the game. "Boeing is kind of dipping its toes now into social media," Eslinger said, referring to the company's "couple of Twitter accounts" and "Careers" Facebook page.

"Larger companies are a little slower to the game of social media compared to the smaller companies, but they're certainly seeing the benefits of it."

Reach Brendan Kearney at 937-5906 and follow him at twitter.com/kearney_brendan.