Comments on: Getting Social at BIO http://www.jnjbtw.com/2008/06/getting-social-at-bio/ Our People and Perspectives Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:15:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Mike Spear http://www.jnjbtw.com/2008/06/getting-social-at-bio/comment-page-1/#comment-1310 Mike Spear Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:20:40 +0000 http://jnjbtw.com/?p=291#comment-1310 I guess I'm the one who posted that ultimately I figured the message out of the session is to "just do it". The panel did a great job of arming the attendees with the caveats but pointed them all in the direction of doing something. Apart from the fear of losing control of the message there seems to be a near paranoia about letting the cat out of the bag. Researchers think that hinting about what they are doing will get ahead of their publications, while some executives think that everything is proprietary. One exec I talked to at BIO was nearly vitriolic in his attack on the idea of a corporate blog saying they were "all" headed for legal troubles. They seem to forget they are in control of the keyboard. There is lots that can be said about your company and your work that doesn't cross any forbidden lines. Ditto when it comes to countering critcism or misinformation. If I can add another apparent reason for the concern over social media, it seems to be that it is usually taken out of the corporate context and handled well apart from other corporate initiatives. Yet when it comes down to it is just another from of communication (albeit a new technology) and many, many of the corporate principles, policies and PR maxims can be used to guide its use. I think your line about the JNJ BTW is important for corporate wanna be bloggers. "Everyone else is talking about our company, so why can't we?" I guess I’m the one who posted that ultimately I figured the message out of the session is to “just do it”. The panel did a great job of arming the attendees with the caveats but pointed them all in the direction of doing something.
Apart from the fear of losing control of the message there seems to be a near paranoia about letting the cat out of the bag. Researchers think that hinting about what they are doing will get ahead of their publications, while some executives think that everything is proprietary. One exec I talked to at BIO was nearly vitriolic in his attack on the idea of a corporate blog saying they were “all” headed for legal troubles.
They seem to forget they are in control of the keyboard. There is lots that can be said about your company and your work that doesn’t cross any forbidden lines. Ditto when it comes to countering critcism or misinformation.
If I can add another apparent reason for the concern over social media, it seems to be that it is usually taken out of the corporate context and handled well apart from other corporate initiatives. Yet when it comes down to it is just another from of communication (albeit a new technology) and many, many of the corporate principles, policies and PR maxims can be used to guide its use.
I think your line about the JNJ BTW is important for corporate wanna be bloggers. “Everyone else is talking about our company, so why can’t we?”

]]> By: Mother Jones, RN http://www.jnjbtw.com/2008/06/getting-social-at-bio/comment-page-1/#comment-1283 Mother Jones, RN Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:27:09 +0000 http://jnjbtw.com/?p=291#comment-1283 Marc, you're doing a great job on JNJ BTW. I really enjoy reading your blog. It's true, you've taken some hits, but I think that the conversations have helped to clear the air. You are setting the standards for future corporate blogs. Keep up the good work. MJ Marc, you’re doing a great job on JNJ BTW. I really enjoy reading your blog. It’s true, you’ve taken some hits, but I think that the conversations have helped to clear the air. You are setting the standards for future corporate blogs. Keep up the good work.

MJ

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