Telstra Corporation Limited - Social Media Engagement Policy - Case Study Example

Case study Analysis: Telstra Communications Company Student’s Name Institution Case study Analysis: Telstra Communications Company Introduction Telstra Corporation Limited is an Australian mobile telecommunications company that is engaged in the building and also, the operations of networks that serve telecommunications purposes. Telstra Corporation Limited is also a media company, operating in different areas of the mass media networks, involving itself in such activities as pay television, products concerning entertainment, internet access and various digital services. In principle, Telstra Corporation Limited is a giant and leader within the Australian telecommunications and media industry, as well as within the global telecommunications industry. The company also concerns itself with the provision of communication solutions to private customers as well as to different business organizations, firms, companies and even some governmental agencies. To all these customers, it provides services and content involved with ongoing media issues that affect most of them in their business operations and undertakings. Owing to the fact that Telstra Corporation Limited has a very huge clientele that varies from private customers to larger business organizations, it has become a necessity for the telecommunications giant to formulate effective customer service relations and schemes. The aim of an effective customer service provision scheme is to enable the firm to articulate a stronger and dedicated brand in the highly competitive telecommunications industry. Having a stronger and dedicated brand will definitely translate into a successful competition and increased penetration into the dynamic Australian as well as the global telecommunications industry as a whole (Quinn-Allan, 2012, p.78). Due to the increase in the usage of social media networks and channels in the telecommunications industry, it has been observed that many social network users are using the readily available platforms to talk about among other things various brands in different sectors of the economy. This revelation has influenced and jolted Telstra Corporation Limited into venturing the social media networks and channels in order to conduct effective digital marketing and consumer engagements .Nevertheless, with the increased involvement of the telecommunications giant into these social media networks and channels, there has been a necessity also for both the formulation and implementation of certain policies in order to ensure that the company adheres to sound ethical practices even on the internet platform(Quinn-Allan, 2012, p.78). Question 1a Facebook is one of the biggest and most popular platforms of social media networks that exist on the internet. Currently, it has an estimated one billion active users, making it a very potent force for various business organizations and even newly started companies. Many different users of the social media networks use it for different purposes as they deem fit. There are some users who use it for general interaction with family members and their close or distant relatives. There are some who predominantly use Facebook to catch up on information with old timers and high school/university colleagues that they have not seen or heard from in many years. There are some of the users who actually only use it to make new acquaintances and meet other people who were never part of their lives but also share same ides, professions and interests. This type of Facebook users may surprisingly not even be in contact with close friends or family and relatives on their Facebook accounts; they want to keep it from family and friends as much as they can. Other Facebook users use it to promote their business ventures and marketing of businesses, as is the case with huge business organizations and companies. Moreover, other users of the social media network utilize it as a social calendar as well as an event manager, to help them in keeping track of different social matters and events that affect their lives, such as entertainment events, sporting bonanzas among others due to the different activities that various internet goers use the social media network to achieve, there have been issues raised as pertains to privacy. There are some individuals who treat anything posted on the Facebook social media platform as public, while others strictly view it as private, arguing that privacy is a right entitled to everyone, including on the internet and social media platforms. All the same, it is important for individual social media network users as well as different business organizations, companies and governments to view the type of communication taking place on social media platforms as public communication; just like normal face to face communication that goes on in public parks, shopping malls, and other meeting places. This is in contrast to viewing the kind of communication taking place on social media platforms as one of private nature (Quinn-Allan, 2012, p.78). The main reason for this is because the internet, just like real public places, is a highly public platform, where anyone can check into and communicate what they want or do whatever they require and go out as they wish without any meaningful regulation unless they are engaging in criminal or law-breaking activities. Resting on the fact that the internet itself is a highly public platform, it should thus follow that the Facebook social media network should also be viewed as a public platform of sharing information and communication rather than a private platform. Even the founders and management of Facebook Inc themselves seem to realize this and treat it as one that is public, thereby introducing a number of privacy measures to cater for those who demand the platform to be private. For example, there exists a private message mechanism for people to send private messages to each other that a Facebook user would consider being private and would not need his Facebook friends or other internet users for that matter to see (Quinn-Allan, 2012, p.78). Furthermore, Facebook Inc has other privacy measures that can help one to lock their respective accounts so that those who are not part of their friends or the general internet users cannot access anything from their wall. This ranges from status updates to personal information such as contacts. Therefore, for any individual, business organization or company that aims to open a Facebook social media account, it would be highly advisable and appropriate for them to consider the general communication facilitated by the social platform to be public and not private. Question 1b For potential employees or those individuals already in possession of a Facebook social media account, it is highly prudent for them to consider and sift some of the things and issues that they post and update on the Facebook platform. This is because, for potential employees, there has been an increasing trend whereby potential employers go into the social media networks accounts of those who have applied for employment so as to know more about their social background information. A lot of information about the character, the motivation, habits and personality of many people is usually easily exposed in social media networks and potential employers know this pretty well (Quinn-Allan, 2012, p.79). As such, it would be prudent for potential employees to be cautious over what they post and update on social media platforms such as Facebook Inc simply because some posts on let’s say sensitive issues such as security, discrimination and racism may be their undoing. If a potential employer traces imminent dishonesty, racism, low motivation and poor character or personality openly displayed in an individual seeking employment’s Facebook account, it will be indeed challenging for the employer to recruit such an individual. And given the fact that many potential employers are going onto social media networks such as Facebook Inc in order to carry out reconnaissance on job applicants, individuals who recklessly uses his social media account may find themselves out of gainful employment for a pretty long time (Quinn-Allan, 2012, p.79). For those social media networks users who are already in gainful employment in different business organizations, companies, learning institutions as well as government agencies and departments, it is also paramount for them to maintain caution over the things they post on Facebook and also, the information they share. This is because the use of social media networks can easily reveal the hidden characters and personality of employed individuals, those which cannot be ascertained at the work place or were not observable during the recruitment process. The revealing of such hidden characters may serve to detrimentally impact the employment of such individuals, sometimes they may even lead to dismissal from work. Different employers the world over also do at times check the social media networks account of their employees, to see if the employees are discussing work related issues such as working conditions, freedoms and liberties at the work place among others (Quinn-Allan, 2012, p.79). Furthermore, employers always conduct evaluation exercises in order to establish whether individual employed in some of the sensitive areas of an organization such as security or accounting/finance departments are divulging or sharing critical information over the social media networks. This is to ensure that employees are adhering to the information protection terms of their employment contracts, for the general safety and integrity of their organizations. With a lot of criminal activities, fraud and other vices such as child pornography being perpetrated on social media networks, surveillance of social media platforms such as Facebook Inc has increased the capacity of different business organizations, institutions, companies and government agencies to comprehend well the character and personality of the employees working for them that would have been difficult to ascertain prior to this social media networks platform era(Quinn-Allan, 2012, p.79). Question 2 Telstra Corporation Limited has developed a social media engagement policy that is basically aimed at the protection of the telecommunication company as well as the brand it has built over the years. This is because the firm realizes too well that due to the enormous following and potential market existing in the different social media networks platforms, it is of immense necessity to have effective policies for which to engage the users of such social media platforms. The lack of an effective engagement policy in the platforms of social media networks can lead to many problems, including tarnishing of the telecommunications company brand as well as various ethical issues. Nevertheless, even as the telecommunications giant primarily targets the protection of itself and its brand on the social media networks, it has been observed that the social media engagement policy pursued by Telstra Corporation Limited also does protect the interest of the company’s employees (Quinn-Allan, 2012, p.80). The company’ social media policy has laid out clear guidelines that explain how the personal or the use of social media networks for the company’s operations intersects and meets with the general interests and objectives of the telecommunications giant. This helps to protect employees, as they are provided with well spelt boundaries they should not cross over, both personal and business wise. The policy further protects the company’s employees by using an ethical approach that helps the employees to comprehend online behavior that is appropriate and productive (Quinn-Allan, 2012, p.79). Question 3 A fair and effective social media and engagement policy is not one that is heavily reliant on providing a list of things to be done and those not to be done i.e. dos and don’ts while employees are using social media networks. This is because a rules’ based approach to setting particular standards, in this case, standards of social media engagements, normally leads to very rigid frameworks which are frequently broken as they heavily curtail the freedoms and liberties of employees. The use of a principles based approach to developing a social media engagement sets out the company’s expectations and leaves room for employees to exercise their right judgment and professional experience while using different social media platforms. Therefore, the use of principles in creating a social media engagement policy will ensure that employees enjoy a stronger base for the use of social media in an ethical manner that will be beneficial to both the company and also, its employees (Quinn-Allan, 2012, p.80). Question 4 The social media engagement policy of Telstra Corporation Limited has some requirements focused on its employees and how they behave or act whenever using social media networks and platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. These particular requirements demand that while using social media platforms, the employees of the telecommunication company should try to conform to the behavioral as well as the cultural norms of the social media platform in use. Furthermore, the requirements expect the company’s employees to adhere and observe the terms and conditions set by various social media networks for using their platforms. All these requirements are highly appropriate in a bid to improve the marketing communication mechanisms of the telecommunication company on social media platforms. Such provisions makes a lot of sense, simply because if the company’s employees were violating the conditions and terms of use of certain social media networks, then that would negatively impact on the marketing strategies of Telstra Corporation Limited on social media. Furthermore, not conforming to various behavioral and cultural norms of different social media networks would tarnish the reputation and brand of the company with other users of the involved social media, hence bringing the company into disrepute (Quinn-Allan, 2012, p.80). Question 5 Telstra Corporation Limited social media engagement policy is anchored on three basic pillars commonly referred to as the 3R’s – Representation, Responsibility and Respect. Representation focuses on the transparency and disclosure of information by employees, indicating those with authority to avail information on behalf of the company. It also focuses on the handling of time sensitive and commercial information on social media platforms. Responsibility focuses on the mandate put on employees by the company in order to regulate their respective online behavior and conduct on social media platforms. It rationalizes the idea that with employees’ rights to use social media arises to a number of responsibilities, both personal and relating to the company as a whole (Quinn-Allan, 2012, p.80). The final tenet, Respect, focuses on imperatives with a legal nature for example privacy issues, copyright issues as well as relevant regulations of different governments pertaining to online content publishing. Respect also focuses on the need of the company’s employees to adhere to the terms and conditions of use of different social media networks, as well as conforming to the acceptable behavior and culture in those particular social media platforms. Leslie Nassar, the Telstra employee who used a fake Stephen Conroy Twitter account, was wrong in updating satirical and mocking messages while impersonating Australia’s minister of Broadband, communications and Digital Economy. Mr. Nassar contravened Telstra values clause by not seeking prior permission to update certain information on social media (Quinn-Allan, 2012, p.79). In summary, Telstra Corporation Limited should continue to strengthen its social media engagement policy around the 3 R’s as well as sensitizing their employees more on social media use in order to ensure the company is not put into disrepute or suffers ethical blunders. Reference Quinn-Allan, D. (2012). Telstra - The 3 Rs of Social Media Engagement. In George& B. Michael (Eds), Advertising: an Integrated Marketing Communication Perspective (pp.78-81), North Ryde, N.S.W: McGraw Hill. Read More