Finger Candy Friday: Social Media Faux Pas Pitfalls

A 'faux pas' is considered a violation of accepted social norms regarding customs or etiquette rules. The term comes from the French, and literally means "false step". Faux pas vary widely from culture to culture, and what is considered good manners in one, can be rude in another.
Just ask KTCK's MikeBacsik about it.



Radio station KTCK in Dallas has suspended the employment of KTCK producer, talk host and former major league pitcher Mike Bacsik in response to comments he made on his personal Twitter account following San Antonio's win over Dallas this week. The former Washington Nationals pitcher has since deleted the remark from his Twitter account, made during Mavs-Spurs game. Bacsik tweeted, "Congrats to all the dirty Mexicans in San Antonio." Don't believe me? See for yourself.


Hopefully you are using or have implemented some kind of Social Media guidelines to avoid the litigious kind of “Social Media Faux Pas Pitfalls”. Whether this is company mandated for the apparent situations ie foul language, lewd photos, slander/liable or you have established some do’s and don’ts for your station.



I am never surprised when I read articles about disciplinary actions for Social Media faux pas. For some it is common sense to control what to say or not say when being “social” including but not limited to Email, Posting, Texting, Uploading and Tweeting. I admit to some ‘poison pen’ emails, text, posts that can’t be taken back. I am a passionate Type A personality with a flair for the dramatic. But, I want to attract clients and throwing people, places, things under the bus probably won’t do that. When taking inventory or mentioning social media practices, or lack of by certain institutions, I try to keep my points general and never name names or examples!


Research conducted by Proofpoint, a leader in unified email security and data loss prevention shows the following:
-17% disciplined an employee for violating blog or message board policies.
Nearly 9% terminated an employee for such a violation
-15% disciplined an employee for violating multimedia sharing/posting policies
8% reported terminating an employee for violations.
- 13 % of US companies investigated an exposure event involving mobile or Web-based short message services


It’s easy to see that social media is changing how companies do business; the way we work, the way we communicate with listeners, co-workers and the community.
So how do companies manage the legal and financial risks?


Here are some Social Media guidelines from Intel Corporation; http://www.intel.com/sites/sitewide/en_US/social-media.htm


This is just a starting point for your own personal use or an example for code of conduct guidelines to adopt into your company.


Next week we will discuss some of the 'Faux Pas' Radio Stations are making that might be holding back their ability to grow and engage their Social Media followers.