There I am, my first day on the job as Ford Motor Company’s newest social media correspondent, an organization known for its good social media etiquette. I sit at my desk, performing each task to a t in order to not mess up and disappoint my boss. Every word is triple checked. Every phrase is carefully thought out and delicately formulated. I know, going into this job, that if I mess up, then I’ll be out of a job, out of a pay check and desperate to find a company that didn’t catch my social media mishap.
This is how I, a typical young, college-educated potential employee thinks. I feel the Digital Entrepreneur list underestimates the mentality of a young employee. I know that many of my friends, and myself, can be quite goofy and immature, but when the time calls for it, we can transform into responsible adults. While hanging out on the weekends, one may be incredibly silly, but when at work, the professional is put guard up and that individual becomes the rational human being that he or she has trained to be. After all, we didn’t work through four years of school just to mess around on the job.
However, I don’t believe a company should hire someone and put them in full control of all the social media accounts right away. They have to learn what the company is about. They have to understand the audience they are appealing to. They have to know there is something to lose. Putting someone who has at least a years’ worth experience with the company would be optimal.
I do like the point the article makes about having a few people know the account information for the business. Suppose the hypothetical social media correspondent gets fired for some reason, changing the password should be done before that employee actually get their notice to insure they don’t “go postal” on your social media accounts.
Younger employees should not be treated as incompetent. They can learn the niche audiences of the business and ways of communicating to them within a decent amount of time, especially if that was their educated specialty. I don’t believe you should give a young employee or new hire complete control of the accounts, but don’t be afraid to let them do a job they have trained years for.
#1 by Simone Jackson on September 14, 2012 - 12:45 pm
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I liked how you painted a picture at the beginning of this blog on how some employers may view recent college graduates. Companies should recognize that all college students are not the same. Just because a company may have had a bed experience, doesn’t mean they should not trust recent graduates with social media altogether. However, I do agree that there should be some restrictions. More than one person should monitor a company’s social media profiles.
#2 by mcnamam on September 14, 2012 - 10:39 pm
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I think you’ve got the same basic view I’ve got on this one. I think we are often underestimated as careless and even lazy by some, when I say “we” I mean our generation. I think some of this has to do with growing up in a social media era, when everything is so public. In our parent’s age, they likely did the same things we did, it just wasn’t at risk to be publicized on the Internet…lucky them. However, you’re right, just because we do “silly” things on the weekends or even on our personal social media accounts, that doesn’t transcend into the workplace. I know that with such a competitive job market facing me in several months, I’ve got to be on my very best behavior and working as hard as I possibly can with any job I can get. Putting recent college grads in charge of social media seems to be an incredibly wise decision by companies. All it takes is some training and trust.
#3 by Jonas Clark on September 18, 2012 - 11:46 pm
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While I do believe that young people who have studied the field should be given a chance, the scenario you played out at the start of the article raised some new concerns I have never thought of with this issue before;the effect of the nerves on the new job. While we may be a social media savvy generation, the nerves alone due to the pressure may cause us to write the dry posts that we criticize everyday from “older” professionals. I’m not totally sure how large of an impact on the job, but I feel that it is a possibility.