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Monday, May 6, 2013

Create your own personal “Online Policy”

We have all heard the speech about “no drunken pictures on facebook if you want a serious job”. But where do we draw the line when it comes to what is ok to put online, what is appropriate, and what are you not allowed do share in social media? What is expected and acceptable social media behavior? Most businesses today have rules regarding what employs are allowed to share. As an employee of the company, they often expect that you don’t do anything that might harm the company’s reputation. How much can the job expect from you? What is common sense? And what about the freedom of speech in all of this?

The questions are many, and the answers are both different and vague.

However, in public relations they often use the “Potter Box” to evaluate a situation. I believe this would be a great tool to at least better understand your personal behavior online, and to create a “personal policy” on how you want to appear online. This way you are less likely to regret actions that are more or less impossible to erase.



1.       Definition of the situation. First you look at the facts of a given situation. For example; who is posting, where is it posted, what is it about, ….?

2.       Values. What values do you want to stand for, and what values are important to you personally and professionally. Try to list them based on importance.

3.       Principles. Are there rules you need to follow because of your job? What principles are related to your profession? Any other rules or principles you should think about?

4.       Loyalties. Who should you think about when you are sharing online? Examples might be; yourself, employers, the stakeholders of your employer, friends and family, the public, …? It would be a good idea to think about who you believe is most important.   

As an employee or a student it is in your best interest to be aware of the expectations regarding your social media activity. Even if there are no explicit expectations you are obliged to follow, it would most likely be in your own best interest as a professional to be aware of the bigger picture when it comes to your actions online.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!
-          Lise :)

5 comments:

  1. Very interesting blog post! Thanks for the good advice:)

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  2. This is actually a very interesting topic, and it seems to be a kind of a gray area within social media. You can take some precautions, but if you have less intelligent friends that will post anything of you, there's only so much you can do.

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  3. Definition, Values, Principles, Loyalties. I am wonder what kind of situation will cause them move to each other situation, like the picture showed above

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  4. This is very interesting, As a communication major it is very cool to see someone using the potter box outside of class.

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  5. I appreciate all the feedback! I am sorry if this post seemed unclear, the picture of the potter box is just to help clarify. The arrows are illustrating in which order you would address any situation. This is obviously just a tool you may use to make it easier. The idea is that you first write down an actual situation or a fictive scenario. Then based on that, you look at your values, before you move on to relevant principles. In light of this you consider your loyalties. This routine might help you to be more aware of, and consider, the overall situation when you post something online.

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