
17% of employees are required to use personal social accounts for work - trevin
http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/25/15-of-employees-are-required-to-use-personal-social-accounts-for-work-survey/
======
dangero
This happened to me at a startup I worked for and I felt very violated. Since
I'm a software engineer I consider my agreed contribution to be focused on
software architecture and code writing. One day at our staff meeting the
founders had an hour by hour schedule of the day with a staff member's name by
each hour. They explained that this was the schedule we were using for "social
networking broadcast". At my given hour I was supposed to push our product to
my social networks. It was at this moment that I regretted adding my superiors
as friends on Facebook/LinkedIn because they would know if I did not actually
do it. I very much felt that if I didn't do it, there would be consequences.

If you work in marketing, you may advertise on your resume how many contacts
you have in your social networking circles. I do not. I use them to keep up to
date with family and friends. For me this was all very unexpected and abrupt.
Please don't do this to your employees. I quit less than a month later and at
that point I deleted every single mention of the company from my social
network. I didn't do that because I disliked the company's product or even the
people who worked there. I did it because I felt dirty for what I had been
forced to do.

I think the important thing is that it is clear up front when taking a job
whether or not your "private" social network will be controlled by the
company. If I had known that they felt they had the right to control my posts,
I would not have taken the job.

~~~
jonchang
> They explained that this was the schedule we were using for "social
> networking broadcast". At my given hour I was supposed to push our product
> to my social networks.

Is it common for startups to sacrifice their employees' social capital at the
altar of "growth hacking"?

~~~
ecspike
In a word. Yes. I've been asked a lot to like some video or share a LinkedIn
post.

If it doesn't fit into the confines of something I would reasonably share, I
don't share it. I've never gotten blowback for it.

------
droithomme
To understand that how much this is a violation and inappropriate, it's
helpful to imagine the same scenario happening but the other party is someone
you are dating. Someone you are dating is more appropriate to have access with
one's personal social networking accounts than an employer, so if it seems a
problem with the friend, it should be considered even more a problem with the
employer.

Consider the person you are dating saying to you, "We're going to go on your
social network accounts so you can post to everyone how much you love me and
how much you want all your friends to like me." What would be the reaction to
such a demand? Does the demand seem normal and reasonable?

Consider the person you are dating saying to you, "I need you to promise me
that, no matter what happens in the future, you will never say anything bad
about me to any of your friends or family on social media. I also need you to
sign this contract agreeing to damages if you ever say anything bad about me."
What would be the reaction to such a demand? Does the demand seem normal and
reasonable?

I suggest that should these scenarios take place with a trusted friend, it
would not only damage the trust, it has a significant likelihood of being an
inappropriate enough red flag to be a deal-breaker that ends the relationship,
and casts the other party as crazy, desperate, abusive and/or unhinged.

~~~
corin_
I'd also be pretty upset if the person I was dating told me I had to spend 9-5
with them 5 days a week.. there's quite a few differences, actually.

~~~
spacehome
If she gave me a paycheck every two weeks, I'm sure we could work something
out. :)

------
mcherm
Hold on a sec... I'm calling BS on this.

I don't know what their experimental methodology is, but according to the
article, 17% are REQUIRED to do write nice things about their employers in
social media and another 27% are ENCOURAGED to do so. That's 47% or about half
of all people.

That's just not true. Half of all people are NOT shilling for their employers
on Facebook. Perhaps there is some small group in which this occurs, but I see
almost no signs of it in my social circles, and honestly, do you see that?
HALF of everyone?

I'm not dismissing the issue as unimportant, but I'm dismissing the data from
the survey as clearly flawed or else applicable only to some special subgroup.

~~~
pyduan
44% actually. But I agree that this figures seems unrealistic.

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leeoniya
if my current or future employer ever required me to associate my personal
accounts with work in any way as a condition for continued employment, i'd
tell them to go f*ck themselves. in fact, i now ask about any such policy in
interviews and if they get the answer wrong, i walk out the door.

no employment opportunity is worth selling out your personal life.

the only acceptable condition may be a _promise_ not to post negative things
on your personal account while employed.

just my $0.02

~~~
yuhong
_the only acceptable condition may be a _promise_ not to post negative things
on your personal account while employed._

Personally I don't like that either.

------
tedunangst
Ugh.... _17 percent of our anonymous respondents so far told us they are
required to use their personal social media accounts_

No selection bias there, I'm sure. venturebeat is read by a wide cross section
of the employee demographic, right?

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616c
Yeah when my company got a new IT Communications Director and asked we like
them on Twitter and Facebook, I was nauseated that many people did so. I
refused, and I considered writing a stern email about how disgusting such a
practice was to me.

My social networks are not part of the job, sorry. If you want them, you can
pay me extra, since marketing firms pay for that data in bulk too I want to be
paid for shilling just like others.

------
jameshart
There is a definite issue with this in the developer space regarding how API
keys are connected to user accounts, and the policies employed by companies
like Google, Facebook and Apple regarding duplicate, fake, or pseudonymous
accounts. It's sometimes hard to know what the correct approach is to working
with Facebook developer tools, adSense accounts, or testing iOS apps on your
own phone, without forever tying your corporate identity to your personal one.
As single accounts cross lines into social networks as well as development
capabilities it becomes hard to keep work accounts and personal accounts
separate.

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pyduan
While the figure might seem shocking, keep in mind this is 17% of employees
_who responded to the VentureBeat survey_ , not of all employees, and that not
only we don't even have a sample size, but on top of that the survey is only
"about a third of the way done".

Not only is this a highly biased subset (VentureBeat readers) in the first
place, but the question is very poorly defined: "Are you required to use your
personal social account(s) for work purposes? [yes/no/not required but
encouraged]". What does "encouraged" means? What count as "social accounts"
(arguably, the consequences are not the same if they ask for my Facebook than
my Linkedin)? What does "work purposes" mean? Is it merely suggesting that at
an all hands meeting that employee support the newest marketing campaign, or
is this actively pressuring employees into writing positive statuses about
their company on Facebook? If the documentation on how to use Jobvite includes
a section on how to share job postings on Linkedin, does this count as being
encouraged?

I don't want to minimize the issue because there are definitely cases of
employers crossing the line of what is acceptable, but these results looks
completely worthless to me .

------
jrockway
One thing that's nice about G+ is you get a separate account for work if your
company uses Google Apps. This at least lets you proselytize for your company
without annoying your friends, and keeps personal stuff away from work
associates if you so desire.

(I'm not sure if it's confusing or not for two people to show up if you search
for my name. Hopefully my choice of profile picture guides people in the right
direction.)

------
nucleardog
I think the more disturbing trend would be the personal data they post on the
company site.

Name and photo? I guess that's kind of standard (even if not the best privacy-
wise)...

But your personal cell number? Someone please find the companies in question
so we can grab the CEO's phone number and tell him that's not okay.

------
segmondy
Make a work account for that company and keep it separate from your personal
account. Never accept your coworkers on social media sites. How hard is this?

~~~
MereInterest
Because coworkers can become friends, and friends can become coworkers. The
two are not wholly disjoint sets, nor should they be. What is needed is a
separation of function, not a separation of people. Two accounts, perhaps with
shared people, but with the intent of one being personal communication, and
the intent of the other being professional.

~~~
kyzyl
Imagine if somebody built a social networking site where you could have one
group of contacts, but sandbox them into their separate circles of
function/relation. Such a website would surely eat all others for breakfast.
;-)

------
tehwebguy
Interestingly enough approximately the same percentage of employees seem to
voluntarily use their social accounts for work.

The whole thing is sort of dumb to me, most people in question probably have a
very small number of connections (followers, friends, subscribers, etc) and an
even smaller number in the right circles.

I would imagine that those with a few thousand connections or more would never
agree to do this without being totally into it anyway.

------
bcRIPster
This was a huge point of contention with my last employer regarding Wikipedia
edits of the company's listing in the site.

------
RKoutnik
At one of my old jobs we were told that our Social Media specialist would be
writing short snippets for us to post from our own social accounts as if we
had written them. Normally I'm pretty causal in this area (I like talking
about work) but having prewritten ad copy was pretty creepy. Needless to say,
I moved on soon after that.

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imgabe
Some people seem to think that the Internet is some magical medium that's
somehow different from real life. It's not. If you wouldn't ask someone to do
it in an offline setting, don't ask them to do it in an online setting.

Would you ask your employee to go door-to-door to all their friends houses and
knock on the door and give them a sales pitch? No? Then you shouldn't ask them
to shill for you on Facebook.

If you want to advertise on Facebook, there's already a way to do that.

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rjbwork
We actually have links to all of our employee's LinkedIns on our site. I
personally have no problem with it. Hell, in the long run it will probably
help me get another job at some point at best, or do nothing at worst. But I
will refuse to use it as a marketing thing or do any other social networking
linked to the company, since LI is the only professional network I'm a part
of.

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tommo123
That infographic is truly awful and I feel sorry for the poor guy who spent a
few hours putting it together and carefully aligning stuff until it's 'just
right'. Know when to kill your baby - it's never too late to walk away from
something that isn't working.

------
theorique
I guess it's too late if you've already merged your professional and personal
online identities, but one way to work this is to create a sanitized
professional account for this purpose, and change the name on your "real"
personal account to something different.

------
krakensden
Regarding facebook, the majority of my social life there takes place in a
private group, that a strong plurality of my friends are in.

It works pretty well, and it makes Facebook useful for impromptu get-togethers
again.

------
spindritf
Required to use them for what?

~~~
Create
To manipulate you. Preferably without you knowing. CERN does this too.

(There is a term for getting/tricking somebody to reveal himself through
Linkedin/FB and alike for "background checks")

