Conversations among employees are definitely moving online, especially at the personal level. I have worked at Wachovia for the past two summers as a teller. Wachovia banned access of Facebook and other social networking sites from employees. Internet access was only allowed for Wachovia related work. Even if we tried typing in a social network URL, it would still deny us access. I did not disagree with Wachovia’s policy because sometimes social networking sites can hinder worker productivity. As a teller, I was responsible for interacting with customers and completely their bank transactions. Social networking was not part of my job description. For example, Facebook would distract my attention away from my customers because I would be trying to interact with personal conversations on the social network site. I definitely think that these conversations will occur not matter what, but I do think there is a time and place for gossip and personal conversations. After work is a great place for social networking sites to be used. Companies could also allow an allotted amount of time for employees to use social networking sites throughout their work day.

I just wrote a couple posts about how companies are using Twitter ( http://sarahlokitis.com/2009/03/23/zappos-microblogging-with-twitter/#comments and http://sarahlokitis.com/2009/03/28/southwest-blogs-and-twitter/ ). I found that Twitter is an excellent way for a company to inform its “followers” quickly and concisely. Some companies spend a lot of time on Twitter updating on weather or customer service. Zappos and Southwest have really established conversational tones that reveal a fun, thoughtful personality. Shel Holtz wrote on his blog (
http://blog.holtz.com/index.php/weblog/twitter_gateway_to_substantive_content/Tweets ) about the importance of Twitter leading “followers” to new information through links. I have used Twitter lately to listen to what others are saying and the people I am “following” have linked to interesting articles and videos. It is easy to build relationships and learn about other people through Twitter.

I believe that because of the character limit and the fact it is a new social media application, Twitter does not have to remain completely serious with topics only related to their company. Companies should be professional, but do not have to always speak formally to their audience. Twitter should establish a human quality to the organization.

What I worry about with the “Twitter manners” is when does a professional, serious banker’s tone, cross the line into a distant advertising voice.

But I also think Twitter will grow in the corporate world. It’s a great way for communications professionals to practice concise writing techniques.

Thanks so much for the input. I think I will add that tid bit of information into my post as well.

Also, it’s funny you bring up the social media newsroom. Keep reading this week’s posts and you may find that you read my mind on subjects of transparency. Social media newsrooms are the next place for an organization to expand its openness.

I love that you blogged about Twitter. I know it is continuing to become more and more popular everyday and I think that tweet “norms” or dialect is increasing, too. Twitter slang is almost necessary sometimes because of the restricted 140 characters. I know this doesn’t necessarily mean the words “bummer” and “supercool” should always be used, but I don’t see it as a bad thing. Of course it depends on the company. I would expect Wachovia to appear more professional simply because they are a bank. Comcast is a company that provides media to the public and I find it acceptable to speak in a more nonchalant tone.

In a previous post of mine I discussed the social media outlets of Carnival Cruise Line.http://nicolemfiorella.com/2009/03/05/communication-on-a-cruise-ship/ They also use Twitter in the same manner as Southwest. Carnival provides weather, boat, and activity updates in a very casual tone. Comcast and Carnival have the ability to tweet in this tone because their demographic can relate to them in such a dialect.

I think Twitter is definitely up and coming. I have seen the light and am an advocate for Twitter because I find it to be very beneficial for companies and consumers to communicate in a more simple casual manner. Twitter has definitely grown on me, and I hope that eventually others will realize its great capabilities, too.

I found a blog article citing the Security and Exchange Commissions new policy for interactive data in financial reporting. According to this article I listed below, large companies must publish an interactive quarterly report after June 15, 2009. Companies will be changing their set up to reflect interactive reports such as the IBM report you cited. [http://www.corporate-eye.com/2009/01/interactive-data-for-financial-reporting-and-ir/]

This is really interesting. I was extremely excited to learn about this since my blog is on interactivity, too. I tihnk the idea of interactive annual reports is really key for investors to trust a company and feel comfortable to invest in them, especially with the current stockmarket situations.

The IBM Annual Report is really informative. I think it really shows how willing the company is to being transparent with its stakeholders. I also took a look at Sun Microsystems Annual Repot, and they included even more infromation than IBM.

Sun Microsystems provided their financial information and committee memebers names, but they also provided links to their company policies. A few of these policies include how they go about giving employee compensation and the factors that apply to receiving it. There is also information about proposals that suggest new ways to elect the board of directors and even suggestions of ways to ammend policies.

I found their report to be very insightful and thought you might want to check it out, too. The link is https://materials.proxyvote.com/Approved/866810/20080924/CMBO_27948/HTML2/default.htm

I really enjoyed reading this post. Not only did it give me an idea for a future post on my blog, but it also provided me with an example from our local Harrisonburg community. I find it really neat that you had the opportunity to meet with our Harrisonburg City Mayor. I think it is definitely the responsibility of the government to embrace Web 2.0 and provide political transparency for American citizens. No matter what level of government—national, state or local—they have the duty to keep information open to citizens, not secret. Ellen Miller, Executive Director of the Sunlight Foundation, elaborates more on this topic in a YouTube video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAnDfAWv2hM. The integrity of relationships is important in all interactions, even at the government level.