®

Netiquette Workshop
Session 3:
Online Forum & Social Media
Brown Bag Lunch Series for the Workplace

To get started:
Appoint a coordinator who will lead your small group through the session.
Estimated time: 1 hour.
Contained in this session:
»» instructions for the group coordinator MySecureCyberspace is an initiative of:
»» office culture questionnaire Carnegie Mellon CyLab
and the Information Networking Institute
»» scenarios for discussion
4616 Henry Street
»» guidelines and potential next steps Pittsburgh, PA 15218 USA
(412)-268-7195
www.mysecurecyberspace.com

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University. All Rights Reserved.
MySecureCyberspace is a registered
trademark of Carnegie Mellon University.
Getting Started

Notes for the Group Coordinator

1. Read through the workshop. Highlight the parts that you feel are especially important or relevant to your group.
2. Decide ahead of time which activities, e.g. Scenario Discussions, you would like to lead with your group. Consider
asking coworkers for their opinion. For large groups, you might want to break participants up into smaller groups
and divide the scenario discussions between them.
3. During the workshop, write down issues where the group seems to be in agreement (example: all emails should
be responded to within 24 hours). Consider making these issues a part of your employee handbook/office policies
and cover these issues with new employees during orientation. Also make note of issues where the group is unable
to agree. These issues can be discussed further or brought to the attention of management.
4. At the conclusion, help the group to come to a consensus on what steps should be taken next, such as creating an
employee handbook or making updates to the office policies.

Talk About Your Office Culture What is Office Culture?

Is your workplace formal (with a clear hierarchy among employees, strict Office culture is a combination of
policies and procedures, etc.) or more casual (with open communication the values, practices, behaviors and
among different levels of staff, a flexible approach to conducting business, attitudes that are shared by the
people within an organization. When
etc.)? If you work in a family business, your workplace may have a very familiar
you interview a new employee, you
atmosphere, where personal interactions may mingle with business matters not only look for someone that has
throughout the day. Consider some aspects of culture at your workplace. the right skills but also someone
who will be “a good fit” with your
crew. This unspoken understanding
Where does your workplace fall across this grid? of how people get along and work
productively is a reflection of the
office culture.
Formality / Attitude Communication Tools
There are many aspects of office
culture. Some groups are highly
Technology-based: competitive, and they value individuals
Formal: with careful attention
communications are online who act quickly and aggressively
paid to process, procedures, to get ahead and stay ahead of your
and fast-paced, heavy use of
and hierarchy within the competitors. Some groups are highly
advanced software and digital
organization. supportive, and the managers give
tools
ample consideration to the feelings
of employees when making strategic
decisions. Some offices are intense
Informal: with flexible Traditional: less technological, users of technology, having the
processes and open communications are often latest and greatest gadgets, while
communication across the face-to-face, over the phone, others prefer more traditional ways
levels of the organization. or through the mail. to communicate, such as in-person
meetings, phone calls, postal mail and
post-it notes.
There is no right or wrong when it
A few examples are provided below: comes to office culture, but it is an
important consideration with respect
»» Informal + Technology-based: an office of video game developers
to workplace netiquette. Aside from
»» Informal + Traditional: a contractor or landscaping business office policies, office culture is often
»» Formal + Technology-based: a software company for financial clients the determining factor on whether an
employee’s behaviors in cyberspace
»» Formal + Traditional: a small catering business are appropriate or not and on the
consequences of those behaviors.

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Social Media & Office
Culture: Further Considerations

Consider the following social media activities in the office and discuss with
the group. Can your group come to a consensus on what level of usage suits
your particular workplace?

Forum Faux Pas. How helpful are online forums or discussion

boards to the workplace? Have you ever felt offended by someone’s
words or actions in an online forum or discussion board? Discuss.

Debate, or Hate? What happens when an online discussion

becomes overly emotional? How can users in an online forum or
discussion board maintain a civil discourse when opinions differ?

(In)Appropriate Pictures. Sharing photos with coworkers is

fun—or perhaps not? What happens when an embarrassing photo
is leaked to the office?

During Office Hours. Is it ever appropriate to use a social

networking site during the work day? Is it ok for some, but not for
others?

Company Page (on Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Should your

company set up its own page on a social networking site? Who
would maintain it? Talk about your reasoning for or against it.

“Friend”-ing Colleagues. Would you add your coworkers and your

boss to your friends list on a social networking site? What issues
does this raise? What about professional networking sites? Are
online job recommendations helpful or risky?

Blogosphere. Do people blog about your employer, its services or

products? What do people say online? Do you need to take action
through social media to improve your reputation and strengthen
your company’s online presence?

B
Company Blog. Could your company benefit from having a blog of
its own? What should a company blog talk about? If you already have
one, how do you and your coworkers think it could be improved?

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Discuss a Scenario

Select a scenario to read aloud to the group or split into smaller groups and read one together. Then, discuss:
»» If you were involved, what would be your next step to help improve the situation?
»» At what point, or points, in the scenario does a misstep take place?
»» What could you do to prevent this scenario from happening?
»» What are the lessons learned?

A. Hasty Comments. As a software developer, Lena enjoyed working on cutting-edge projects, but
her work was fast-paced and she often felt unappreciated and stressed out. While online, she stumbled
upon an article related to the topic of her current project. She could not help but post a comment. She
mentioned her client’s name and bragged about how her employer was innovating the technology, but the
client was “stupid” for demanding impossible deadlines. Unfortunately, the client found the comments
and complained. It did not take long before Lena’s boss removed her from the project altogether.

B. Amateur Photographer. Emily, the owner of her family’s hardware store for 20 years, took
pride in being able to throw her employees a big holiday party. This year, however, she checked her email
the next day to find a link to a photo-sharing site. One of the employees, Sam, had taken nearly one hun-
dred photos at the event, had uploaded every single one of them and had shared them publically. Under
one of the less attractive pictures of Emily, Sam had added a comment: “Good party, boss, but needed
more good-looking ladies.” Emily felt embarrassed. She tried not to think of the unsavory photo and com-
ment being out on the Internet, but she couldn’t help treating Sam differently after the incident.

C. Missing Credits. Marty managed the company blog and tried to post an article each week. The
week before he went on vacation, he felt overwhelmed with things to do. Instead of writing an original
post, he simply found an article on a relevant topic from another online source and pasted it into his own
company’s blog. The only part he changed was the title, and he added a related promotion for one of his
company’s products at the end of the post. When he came back from vacation, he found that his boss had
suspended his access to the company blog. Someone had complained about the plagiarized post, which
had no reference to the original article, and now Marty’s boss was investigating whether any of his earlier
blog posts had been plagiarized.

D. Too Direct. Having recently joined a professional networking site, Alice wanted to make the best
impression possible with her online profile, so she could find a better job. After reading up on how to im-
prove her profile, she decided she would try to “raise her visibility” by asking and answering questions in
the forum area of the site. Unfortunately, she went about it all wrong! “Which companies in this city pay
the highest salary?” was the first question she posted in the forum, to which no one responded.

E. Misplaced Effort. As a yoga instructor, Hannah used social networking sites as a way to send
her students health tips and update them about class schedules. When she picked up a second job selling
kitchen utensils, she decided she would take advantage of her growing friends list to market her products
too. After a few weeks of posting product promotions alongside yogo tips, however, her list of friends
began to shrink. Even though she was sending updates to her contacts more often, she seemed to be losing
their interest.

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Guidelines to
Good Social Media Netiquette
Online forums and social media make up a wide range of Web sites and
mobile applications that seem to evolve and rise in popularity at a brisk pace.
Although popular, this media is a newcomer to our daily lives, particularly in
the office environment. The guidelines provided below are general practices
that have been adopted broadly. Use them to help you avoid pitfalls and
reputations-breakers as you explore the various forms of social media, those
that are popular now and those that are yet to come.

Discussion Boards, Newsgroups, Mailing Lists

Message Posts:
»» Before posting to a group, make sure you understand its purpose by
reading it for a month or so before posting anything. Avoid posting anything
off-topic.
»» Create subject lines that immediately convey the topic.
»» Strive to be brief and to the point. Everyone will appreciate it!
»» Show respect for other people’s ideas. Newsgroups and mailing lists may
cover a wide variety of interests, which means the audience will be made up
of people from many lifestyles, cultures and religions.
»» Do not post messages that point out the mistakes of others, or could
otherwise be taken personally by the other user.
»» Never post messages to harass another user. Sexual and racial harassment
may even have legal consequences.
»» If you find yourself feeling offended by the posts within a group, simply
cease to participate. Never post a message to a group to tell them they are
offensive.
»» Be respectful of the host. Do not blame the host for any negative behavior
on behalf of the users.
»» Advertising may or may not be appropriate, depending on the group, but
unsolicited promotions that are completely unrelated to the interests of the
group are never welcome.
Online Discussions:
»» If you ask a question, do not rely on readers to go through a history of past
messages in order to understand what you’re asking. Give them a summary
of the situation up front.
»» If you reply to a post, make sure you include some context in your reply.
Try to include part of the original post or summarize it.
»» Take care not to reply to a group when you mean to send a personal
message to an individual.
»» If you want to be contacted, then be sure your contact information is
included in the post.
»» If a dialogue with another member of the group leads to some interesting
information, it would be helpful to summarize the findings for the group.
However, do not post a long one-on-one discussion or debate for all to see.
»» If you end up arguing with another user, focus the debate on the topic.
Do not be critical of someone’s personality. Likewise, avoid misinterpreting
someone’s opinion on a topic as a personal attack.
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 »» Don’t post gratuitous messages, such as “OK” or “Thanks” that take up
space but don’t really offer anything valuable or interesting. Also, do not
post hostile messages, called “flames,” if you are upset by someone.
»» Remember it is difficult to retrieve a message after you have posted it, so
think before you send!
Group Administrator:
»» Write a welcome message that describes the purpose of the group and the
intended audience. Include information on how to subscribe/unsubscribe.
»» Post a list of helpful tips for users or frequently asked questions (FAQ).
Remeber to update it when it is appropriate.
»» Assign a substitute for yourself when you are on vacation, or have several
users with administrative privileges.
»» Be timely about posting messages to the group, and keep the subscriber
list up-to-date.

Social Networking Sites:

The “Friends” List:
»» Commonly, a “friends” list is comprised of people you simply know. It
is not limited to your true friends only. That said, you may be as liberal or
choosy as you’d like with whom you request and accept for your friends list.
For personal safety, however, only allow people on your friends list that you
know offline—never strangers.
»» Do not take it personally whether or not you are on someone’s friends
list. Social networking sites are used by people for a wide variety of reasons,
and they are, by no means, a test of your relationship with another person.
»» A friend request is not a personal exchange, unless a sender takes the
time to write a personal message to go along with it. You can freely ignore
friend requests. Likewise, expect some of your friend requests to be ignored.
Either way, don’t let it sour your offline interactions with others.
»» If you do not wish to add someone who has sent you a friend request,
ignore the request. Alternatively, you could add them as a friend and then
delete them at a later time, as long as you feel comfortable sharing your
profile information for that brief period of time.
»» Build up a rapport with a person before sending a friend request to their
account. People generally do not make initial contact with others over social
networking sites, unless they are using a professional networking sites, such
as LinkedIn, for the purpose of initiating a business connection.
»» Delete users from your friends list freely. It is common, even recommended
as a safe practice, to delete users with whom you no longer feel connected
for one reason or another.
»» Some users choose to have more than one account, such as one for family
and friends and a different one for business colleagues.
»» Always remember that your entire friends list will be able to view your
profile. Think before posting.
Use of the Site:
»» Comments on the site are viewed by a wide audience. Encouragement,
opinions, jokes and respectful commentary are welcome, keeping in mind
that many people will view what you have to say.

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 »» If you have something personal to say, post it to the user’s profile directly,
or send them a message that can’t be seen by others. Asking your sister-in-
law for gift ideas for your nephew’s birthday does not need to be broadcast
to her entire friends list via a comment on her status.
»» Messages through social networking sites serve a similar purpose as
email. Reply to it with the same courtesy as if it were an email message.
»» Facebook applications are rampant. Similar to chain letters and email
forwards, you may ignore any or all of these applications without offending
anyone.
»» Do not flood your friends with requests to try out site features, such as
applications, virtual gifts and an array of invitations. They will begin to think
you are spamming them.
»» Do not post unflattering images of people who are on your friends list. Ask
for consent before tagging someone in a picture, or better yet, ask people to
tag themselves. Similarly, do not draw attention to any unflattering images
of your friends by adding comments to them.
»» Social networking sites are not meant to replace traditional forms of
socializing, such as meeting and talking with others in person or over the
phone. Make time for your true friends and colleagues.

Professional Networking Sites

»» Do not gather the email addresses and other information of your contacts
for the purpose of creating a list to which you will market your company or
services. Professional networking sites are not meant to facilitate spam. You
must always allow others to opt-in to receive promotional email.
»» Only ask for recommendations from individuals for whom you have worked
and who have appreciated your work. Do not ask for recommendations
from people with whom you did not work well, people with whom you have
never worked, or people who do not know you.
»» Do not write a recommendation for someone you would not honestly
recommend. If someone asks you for a recommendation but you cannot
attest to a positive aspect of the work, reply with regret. Suggest that
someone else may be in a better position to write it.
»» Some people do not feel comfortable writing recommendations. If
someone balks or declines, do not persist in asking for one.

Video- and Photo-Sharing Sites

»» Respect the privacy of others. Do not post images or video of others that
might be embarrassing or may get them in trouble. To be sure, always ask
permission before posting anything of anybody!
»» Do not persistently ask others to view, subscribe to or rate your account.
If you post quality content and share it with viewers who have a true
connection with you, the views and ratings will rise on their own.

Blogging and Commenting

»» Use blogs and commenting tools to lead discourse on subject matter
that interests you. Stay on topic! Avoid destructive comments that target
individuals or criticize people personally.
»» Use discretion if you post content about others or pictures of other people.
Ask permission before posting. Always be considerate of their reputation
and privacy.
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 »» If your blogging or commenting is based on content from another blog,
be sure to credit the source, and include a link for attribution.
»» Do not comment on blogs purely as a way to improve your name or
company’s name in search engine results. Readers will clearly perceive
these comments as irrelevant, and you will actually lose credibility.
»» Do not ask bloggers to link to your own site or blog that has no relevance
to their subject matter.
»» Never create a blog or send comments with the intent of disparaging
someone you do not like. Never post lewd comments or personal attacks
on a blog or on a photo-sharing site. With that kind of destructive approach,
you may be the one who ends up with the tarnished reputation or, worse,
with a lawsuit.

Micro-Blogging (e.g. Twitter)

»» Personalize your profile to let people know who you are. At the very least,
add an avatar and write a brief bio.
»» People do micro-blogging at various frequencies, from all day long to
once a month. You are not expected to see and read everyone’s posts, all the
time.
»» Do not use posts as a way to broadcast your anger with another person
or organization. Deal with the issue directly with the other party. Tweeting
angrily to the public will come across as unprofessional, at best, and lunatic,
at worst.
»» If someone follows you on Twitter, you do not have to follow them. It
shows mutual interest if you do.
»» Follow and un-follow others in earnest. Do not try to get as many followers
as you can without thought to the relevance of your own and other people’s
interests.
»» Do not send your followers unsolicited requests or promotions, a.k.a.
spam.
»» Use hashtags that are relevant to your tweet. Never capitalize on a tragedy
or gossip by inserting an irrelevant hashtag on your tweet promoting your
product or services.
»» Use the @ symbol to tweet in reply to another user, but do not let the
conversation get carried away and bore/annoy other readers. Use the direct
reply tool (DR) when conversations become one-on-one.
»» Do not ask others to copy, a.k.a. re-tweet or RT, your posts. If your post is
good and interesting, it will be promoted without the request.

Bookmarking Sites/Social Media Aggregrators

»» Do not submit an article about cooking to, say, a technology-focused
bookmarking site. Understand a site’s audience and purpose, so you know
the article you’re submitting will be received well.
»» Reciprocate votes for other articles. Do not ask for “diggs” without
submitting diggs on articles that you like or respect.
»» While promoting articles is common, use discretion. Do not promote the
same article repeatedly. Only plug articles that are truly interesting and
timely.
»» Do not use the comments field to promote another link.

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 »» In Conclusion
Always remember these important points of social media netiquette
Why: When used carefully and deliberately, social media can not only liven
up relationships but also be a powerful promotional tool for yourself and
your company.
Who: Employees should consider social media sites as a tool to strengthen
relationships with co-workers, clients, or potential customers, although such
tools should not replace more traditional forms of networking.
What: Strive to post valuable, interesting content and images only. Avoid
incessant self-promotions. Never post disparaging remarks or criticize
someone personally.
When: The frequency of when and how often users visit and post to social
media varies widely. You cannot expect everyone to have seen all of your posts
and updates through social media, which is why it is important to maintain
other forms of communication with your contacts.

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What Next?
We recommend that you put the conclusions you make at the end of this
workshop into new documented guidelines for your workplace. Make the
guidelines part of your employee handbook or office policies.
If you decide not to put the findings of this workshop into a policy document,
at least help your coworkers to understand your office culture and basic
netiquette. You can do this by informing new staff members at the time of
orientation, sending email blasts from managers and administrators, or
hosting other brown bag discussions such as this one. These are all ways to
set expectations about the use of social media in the workplace.
No matter what defines your office culture, be sure to reiterate the importance
of using good netiquette on a regular basis so the organization as a whole
learns an understanding of netiquette and feels comfortable discussing any
issues that arise.

References
Web Sites
Bush, Matt. Photo and multimedia sharing features. In Social Network Advisor.
Retrieved September 2, 2009, from http://www.stanford.edu/~mattbush/
cs73n/photo.html.
Hobbs, Kimberley. The Importance of Etiquette in Online Virtual
Environments. In Scribd. Retrieved September 2, 2009, from http://www.
scribd.com/doc/16975393/The-Importance-of-Etiquette-in-Online-Virtual-
Environments.
Marsden, Rhodri. Facebook faux pas: The geek’s guide to netiquette. In The
Independent. Retrieved September 2, 2009, from http://www.independent.
co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/facebook-faux-pas-the-geeks-
guide-to-netiquette-849090.html.
Robinson, Amelia. Facebook netiquette: the dos and don’ts of social
networking on the Internet. In Middletown Journal. Retrieved September
2, 2009, from http://www.middletownjournal.com/lifestyle/technology/
facebook-netiquette-the-dos-and-donts-of-social-networking-on-the-
internet-102520.html.
Weinberg, Tamar. The Ultimate Social Media Etiquette Handbook. In
Techipedia. Retrieved September 2, 2009, from http://www.techipedia.
com/2008/social-media-etiquette-handbook.
Facebook Manners And You. In YourTango.com. Retrieved September 2, 2009,
from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iROYzrm5SBM.

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