What are the risks for using tools linking people online?

After a recent webinar I helped present about social media and digital communities, several people quizzed me afterwards about the risks involved with using social media as a catalyst for building such communities. 

When you're not in the conversation, you're not part of the community

I told one inquisitor - I'll call him Alan - that I was at a conference of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) a few years ago and this question was raised several times. I recall that one DCI said his officers had to be responsible for their actions online - "after all they are grownups" - and he warned that if the police were not part of the online conversation, they would not be part of the community and the community would then act without them. A prescient point given that the London riots happened a few months later, fuelled largely off the back of online networks. These days most police forces have comprehensive social media strategies as a result.

I guess the point is that you need to be taking part and that involvement helps you to mitigate risk. If there’s no involvement then you will not be able to:

• a, have a dialogue with your community,
• b, be able to work proactively within your community, and
• c, importantly, you won’t have the established networks or presence to be able to defend yourself and protect your online reputation if you community turns against you for some reason.

Social media networks want your data

The other side of that debate is about big data and how information is used when people get involved with social networks and freely divulge information about themselves online. It should not be forgotten that Google, Facebook and Twitter are private enterprises that want data about you to make money. This often seems to be forgotten when you’re encouraged to go onto Facebook or Twitter by the BBC or ITV.  Also, how is data used by local government, the police, NHS etc? These are debates happening at the moment, ie what about the activities at GCHQ? 

But getting back to the question: there have to be corporate rules around using social media for every organisation, ie what is the name of the Twitter account, who runs it, what is the thrust of the messaging and the conversations etc? Nevertheless, too many corporate constraints will stymie the good work you want to do regarding community building.

How to kill a tweet

I’ve often heard people in local government say that the comms team has to meet and agree on every Tweet before posting them. That level of central control - let alone tedious time wasting - will not allow you to build a network of like-minded souls nor help you to engage in a dialogue with people who live in the streets near your office.

Social workers would, of course, never divulge intimate details of the people they help, nor would doctors of their patients. It’s all about striking the right balance and agreeing this beforehand, but not stifling free debate. It’s a balancing act. But not to act is far more of a risk than to take part.

(Anyone interested in the webinar I co presented with OLM please see the slideshare post below)