So many people ask me about how to manage or create rules of engagement for social media and social networking for their business and staff. Usually I direct them to some good resources like these as a starting point:

• I am a Civil Servant Online Participation Guidelines (their site is in beta at the moment so the link may not work so here is a pdf version)
• US Air Force Guide to Blog Assessment

Then I recommend that they consider their own specific culture and environment to determine the best rules of engagement for them.  There is really no out of the box or one size fits all solution, and what works in one workplace might be a dismal failure in another.

However, many workplaces generate huge policy documents that govern their social media and networking activities. I’m not sure anyone actually reads those things & thus remain unconvinced as to their utility.

But I recently came across a really good Twitter policy – from a law firm no less – that explains the rules in 140 characters. This is a great approach as it shows how to use the medium itself to share the message, and their rules of engagement are easy to understand.  From Jay at  Shepherd Law Group:

Our Twitter policy: Be professional, kind, discreet, authentic. Represent us well. Remember that you can’t control it once you hit “update.”

You can follow Jay Shepherd on Twitter at @jayshep