Social Responsibility – Your Responsibility

Great read for more than students. Who’s Googling you and what do they see? Hopefully, a continuous change for the better – growth!

There was a time when social responsibility was focused on how an organization worked to sustain the community/earthly environment/ecosystem. However, today, social responsibility is a major part of communication and sustaining the virtual environment of social media.

It’s virtual responsibility!

Everyone has to focus on social media (virtual) responsibility.

Press releases are no longer the main mean of publicly communicating what’s happening in an organization’s environment. Neither is a phone call or text message the main mean to share what’s happening in your personal environment.

We are also living in a world of personal brands. You market yourself, as well as your organization. It only takes an innocent (or not so innocent) comment or picture to offend the right person to become a virtual media storm. These storms may not be as easy to calm and can be very costly.

Personal and professional worlds are more intertwined than ever before. Why? Most personal social profiles share an employment status, location, education, and other personal identifiable information.

While you may think your personal life is your business, in the virtual environment, your personal business can quickly become everyone else’s business. That business can easily create a conflict in your professional environment, too.

So…what does this require on your part:

• Think before you share and do not share when angry
• Be cautious of who you connect with via social media
• Educate yourself about social media, including your company’s policy (I suggest reading A World Gone Social.)
• Understand that you not only represent yourself but your family and professional environment (How many times do we have to hear, “I would like to apologize to my family!”
• Don’t be so quick to judge what others share and assume the worst (your ill-informed response is no better than your own misguided sharing)
• Always aim to use the benefits of social media positively
• Be open to change when necessary

Speaking directly to The Admin Pro:

• Learn the benefits of the virtual environment and how your organization, office and leadership use it to function
• Know the virtual environment of the one you support
• Gain an understanding of how each social media tool in your environment (and others) function; take a class if necessary
• Be open to changing how you communicate to accommodate your environment
• Connect with your organization’s social media networks; review them at least once a week; if anything affects you or your leadership directly, discuss it in your one-on-one meetings and ask how you can help (doesn’t hurt to research as much as possible beforehand and offer specifics)
• Be in the know of professional networks that relate to your mission and those of interest to your leadership
• “The More You Know, The More You Grow” as The Admin Pro (we can talk more about this later)

On another virtual note, there will always be those who are connecting with you just to see what you are doing and have no intentions of communicating with you. Let them. Keep living. Keep producing. Keep moving forward. You cannot change that. Focus your energy on being who you are. Just give them something positive to see, know and discuss. Some people will only learn from the experiences of others. Don’t be afraid to sweat to achieve, make mistakes and let others be.

Now, get virtually responsible on all levels and sustain it.

Kreatively Synt