There is much ado about who owns the Twitter following you may have and or may create over the course of a work stint. This story Lawsuit May Determine Who Owns a Twitter Account – NYTimes.com over at the NY times highlights a company that is taking the matter to court to determine the answer.
Whatever the outcome, I have always been of the firm opinion that apartment management company employees should never cede to the pressure of commingling their personal brand handle in joint with the company they work for or with. For example: @Mike_MyEmployer or @MyEmployer_Mike. In my head, there is no chance and no way I would ever do that. Not in the context of personal branding world. Neither would I ever ask anyone I work for or with to do as much.
Now I am sure there a several camps out that agree or disagree and all for reasons that apply to their various interests.
But who is right?
Or, is there a right answer? And, as a company that champions social media as part of their branding/marketing strategies, should you push the issue? Would you terminate someone who refused to comply with the request to co-brand? Is it in your social media rules, regs, do’s and don’ts? Do you refuse to hire a soon to be hot personal brand superstar because he or she says – “yeah – no, my social graph is not up for discussion even if it is in the early stages of development.” “Neither am I willing to segregate business from personal?” Bold? Yes – but, it is out there.
Do you sue the guy that leaves with the list?
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Hey Mike, Good Evening
Not sure I agree with your angle here, (guessing you suspect that, lol) and actually think that Personal Branding is way over rated. Oliver Blanchard penned a pretty good post on the matter, RIP Personal Branding; http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/r-i-p-personal-branding/
I just think it is an over rated, ego driven issue that has run its course. I liken it to the great sales folks who happen to have a big Rolodex, they get hired because of talent, not connections. Yet, they have the connections because they are talented.
That all aside though, I do have strong feelings that when you are on a company payroll, you are tweeting, facebooking, talking on the phone, emailing and all the others things we do on behalf of the company and never a Personal Brand. We have spent a lot of time building twitter lists and followings that are targeted and are the companies property, not the employee, and we make that clear on the hire.
I also think YourName_ Company adds a great branding aspect to tweets. I believe that the most effective marketing is hand to hand combat, meaning actually interacting and talking to people on line, and having a consistent branded approach has value. We require our leasing folks to make x tweets per day and x facebook posts each day, all aimed at interaction. We are seeing more and more reasons to continue that path.
I do think that the litigation story has much deeper roots than just a Twitter account, but that makes for great headlines.
Good stuff, good to see you writing again,
E
Really appreciate you taking the time to chime in.
Diving right in, I read Oliver’s post and caught myself moved by his ability to articulate a firm position. All the while remembering that Oliver has lived branding his entire professional career. It’s his passion, he believes and it shows. That said, it’s one side of a very very very thin edge.
That thin edge is character. As such, I see character as brand and brand as character. I see it as personal. I can’t see character as being over-rated, out-dated or ego driven. Are there people out there that operate on the lunatic fringe? Yes. And, in that respect I agree with you. That said, personal branding is alive and well and will run the course of time.
As for the twitter handles – I would agree that if a person comes to work for you and you require they build out a co-brand or strictly company brand [which either way is the sharing of their personal character] and they agree to do so then so be it. And, if you have built that list prior to their arrival – game on, it’s yours to control.
Tell me what you do in this case: Let’s say, I had 5k, 10k or 50k – you pick the number – followers on twitter and I applied to work for you. Would you ask me to co-brand myself with urbane media and build out a whole new list or would you get starry eyed and allow me to stay me? A guy with a big following that happens to work for a media company that happens to lease amazing apartment experiences.
I guess the more important question is what if Twitter shut it off tomorrow – who really owns the list.
Jazzed to be back – thanks again for taking the time. I appreciate your view of the world!
M
It’s interesting that this question has honestly never come up with our team. There is an interesting ebb and flow with our organization. There are personal and corporate unwritten boundaries but at the same time our team knows that the integration of themselves personally in the space has a profound affect on our clients and future clients. We have not seen the need to create boundaries or policy since we view it as a collective team effort for a higher company purpose.
I think this has helped keep mutual respect among us and given us the freedom to be competent professionals and at the same time clearly demonstrate the human factor in what we do.
I am really not sure what a corporation could gain by making a person commit to handing over their social accounts if they leave. It is one of those things that to me is as a result of stuffy shirts over thinking policy and not seeing the larger picture. Great post my friend!
J
Thank you for stopping in!
I do think it is one of those unspoken rules that exist in our business and personal lives.
But, there are surely two sides to the argument that carry equal merit.
Eric makes a great point about the absolute resource put into building out his presence. To think that an employee would/could just walk away with that any time, is a bit unsettling. After all that list was built on company time with company intentions.
I just think that if from the start you don’t mingle the two; it’s a cleaner break at the end – if there is an end.
Good stuff – I will be really interested to see how the case plays out. Have a crazy cool day!
M
Everyone has different goals with their Twitter presence. I think what this situation helps point out is that we all need to be aware of what happens to our accounts if we move on. If we are mainly tweeting as a company or on behalf of a company then we need to understand that part (or all) of that effort is likely owned by the company.
For example, any efforts I have made with @homeisjchart:disqus or @jchartapartments:disqus
are the company’s. I don’t expect to own those accounts if I were to move on (even though I created it and put all the work into them). However, @mbj:disqus, @theaptnerd:disqus, and any other Twitter accounts I have grown and maintained are mine. I may talk about my business at J.C. Hart and J.C. Hart may get some benefit from those conversations and keywords, but I never set out for my personal accounts to benefit J.C. Hart directly. I’ve used them mainly as communication channels with my peers.
Both sides, businesses and individuals, need to have an understanding of what accounts are being used for. This legal crap is a joke in the end, but it’s also due to both sides being short-sighted on the long term strategy for the accounts.
A twitter list is not as beneficial as the person behind the account in my opinion anyway.
MJ!!! How are you? I trust your year to come is packed with awesomeness.
Hey – thanks for taking the time to comment. I am always impressed by your view of the world.
Take care and have a very cool weekend.
M
If you build a following during company time and people recognize you as a representative of that company, well that following by default becomes company property. A company has every right to pursue return of company property. It’s a lot like a business Rolodex. Companies more often than not have a terminated employee leave all business contacts behind as this is business intelligence and potential revenue. If the terminated customer leaves with contacts developed at the business in hand, the company risks losing revenue and created a major liability. Companies use NDAs and NCAs for many reasons and this seems to fit.
Carmen
Thank you for taking the time to chime in. Hope your new year is off to a great start. Would you agree that if the employee brought the rolodex to the company then it is his to take when he departs?
Would be curious to hear your thoughts on mixing the person with the company name in the way of a twitter handle –
M
So, do I need to turn over my LinkedIn account if I leave a company as well? My answer: Over my dead body!
Whoa! Good question. And, I concur.