“We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it.” (Erik Qualman, Socialnomics).
On Thursday 30th August we hosted an event with Onetest, “How to keep your leaders ‘LinkedIn’ and stop your business going offline", looking at the impact of employee social media use on organisations and the role emotional intelligence (EI) plays in employee conduct.
The growth and prevalence of social media is staggering. Some quick stats: if Facebook was a country it would be the world’s 3rd largest; Gen Y and Gen Z consider email passé; 90% of consumers trust peer recommendations over advertisements; and 93% of marketers use social media for business and the ROI for social media will still exist in 5 years. It affects our offline behaviour as well –1 in 5 couples meet online and 1 in 5 divorces are blamed on Facebook.
Social media is about relationships. But who takes responsibility for managing the impact social media has on us as individuals and on the organisations for which we work?
Many companies that use social media for business purposes have policies and procedures on what is and is not appropriate to post online, as an individual and as a representative of the organisation. Some companies even have training on social media etiquette to maximise the positive and minimise the (potentially) negative impact of social media. But is that enough?
Social Media Gone Bad – A Case Study
We explored the case of Energy Watch and CEO Ben Polis at the event. The posts on the personal Facebook page of Polis in April 2012 managed to offend Aborigines, Jews, Muslims, Asians, women and overweight people. The direct fallout involved the Melbourne Football Club, Melbourne Rebels and Melbourne Victory cancelling sponsorship deals with Energy Watch. Energy Watch was also put into liquidation revealing excessive expenditure, misleading advertising and low conversion rates blamed on incompetent staff and junior management.
While Polis may have stated that his Facebook posts were intended as jokes, what this revealed is the blurred line between the individual and the organisation and how this individual represented himself publicly impacted his business profoundly.
During the audience discussion it was suggested that, among other things, Polis lacked the emotional intelligence to understand the impact his actions had on those who read his post. He lacked the appropriate emotional expression and the emotional self-control to resist making offensive posts thereby risking his own and his company’s credibility and reputation.
However, at present there is limited research on the relationship between an employee’s level ofemotional intelligence (EI) and their use or misuse of social media. Specifically, while there is some research indicating a relationship between low levels of EI and negative social media behaviour, the relationship between high levels of EI and social media is still somewhat unknown. Research on EI has focused on other factors such as employee engagement. In a study by Genos in 2011 they found that the higher the EI of their leaders’ the more engaged their employees were overall. An ‘engaged employee’ is one who is fully involved in their work, who will act in a way that furthers their organisation’s interests. They feel an emotional bond to the organisation and a greater willingness to recommend that organisation to others.
Understanding the relationship between EI, engagement and social media is still very new and, indeed, the research is playing catch up to the growth and prevalence of this technology. However, based on what we know, developing the EI of your staff is related to higher engagement with the organisation, and the more engaged an employee the more likely they will represent themselves and the organisation positively, including in social media. Understanding that social media etiquette goes beyond policies, procedures and training, and lies at the heart of an employee’s commitment and attachment to the organisation will help ensure more positive social media experiences and lessen the risk of an Energy Watch disaster.
Prue Laurence
Director & Consulting Psychologist
Psylutions
