Six Ways to Cope with Social Media based Policy Making

The New Normal is the President-Elect live tweeting government policy. Fully in office or not, Mr. Trump’s social media posts are impacting companies and therefore markets and therefore American lives. Boeing and Lockheed Martin are some of latest recipients of this policy. It’s going to accelerate as others are encouraged by the President-Elect to affect market direction via social media.

Awareness of the ongoing erosion of personal and corporate privacy is now a daily news item and a recurring SNL sketch (so you know it’s mainstream ;). High-profile hacks on corporations and according to some reports blatant interference in US Presidential election make the news several times a week. The world has changed and companies that aren’t actively engaged in defending their most important asset, brand, have a limited shelf-life.

These are the active attacks on your privacy whether you are a company or an individual. Passive attacks come in the form of data broadcast by our interaction with social media, devices and our digital presence is the New Normal of being alive today. More data is freely available about everyone and everything than in any other time in history and it’s only going to increase.

Published information may undermine the overall security (e.g., black hats know when Jessica isn’t home or that the Wells-Fargo CEO is having a bad day).

Our definitions of Privacy and Security are being rewritten. In the past what we thought of as Security was defined as a barrier between something we have/own/are and harm. Barriers may be physical (locked door), virtual (firewall) or a psychological deterrent (i.e., the fear of harm by crossing said barrier). Those things that we have are precious to us and have grown to include reputation. Our brands govern how others think of us; interact with us and in many instances how we think of ourselves. For the most part in American society, security only comes into conscious thought when it interferes in our daily routines. We tend to be reactive when harm occurs (e.g., credit card information is stolen). It also modifies our behaviors (e.g., arriving earlier at the airport for security screening). Soon it falls into routine and we forget it until the next time.

Learning to be proactive about managing your data and brand assets, especially when it comes to your collective online identity is essential. There are broad social, political and business issues related to what I coined our Social Identity (#IWasTheFirst) in 2014.

Social Identity is the democratization of corporate / personal information management. Very few organizations and people manage Privacy and Security in a meaningful way. The way data about individuals is released and used is, in my opinion, fodder for policy makers and politicians. In 2014 I correctly predicted that data privacy and Social Identity to be central themes to savvy campaigns.

Complete privacy is gone; it started when the first phone book was published. You need a strategy that helps you identify those specific internal assets. Now is the time to start curating your identity.

1. Define it: Live your values. What core values do you or your business present when interacting with others?

2. Be authentic: Your voice and online presence must be real. Social Identity is not a mask you don when you go out into online world. It must be a true identity of how you relate to others. However, that’s not the same as exposing every aspect of your business or personal life.

3. Practice social listening: From the vantage point of your online presence you can see and hear the echoes of what others say. You cannot control it but you can respond in a thoughtful manner. Celebrities and politicians have done this for decades and now the means to do so are more freely available

4. Identify your network: It’s often said, we are known by the company we keep. Data is being collected 360 degrees from whom you connect to directly to secondary and tertiary relationships. Sites such as LinkedIn provide views into business associates, your network, family and friends

5. Manage it. Don’t try to control it: When our Privacy or Security is threatened there is an instinctive reaction to go on the defensive. Be thoughtful in your approach. Releasing “good” information lets people know the accurate information about you. You want an identity that is authentic and something others believe that “you” would do or say. There are many online tools, this will be the subject of a future article.

6. Curate your data privacy: Decide how and when you want to release information. I have a high school Facebook friend whose activities I know more about than many of my co-workers. I haven’t seen her in many years but know her whereabouts and activities since she “checks in” and posts about six times an hour.

We are down a complicated and polarizing rabbit hole, after a major US election. The next four years will set the precedent as to how the data related to our Social Identity is consumed and therefore managed. Savvy business owners are taking the opportunity to protect themselves. Campaigns are run on historical data but it was Social Identity that voters endorsed. The election didn’t set policy but allowed select individuals to define the shape of data privacy. Politicians understand that people tend to vote “no” (Read ignore) on complicated issues, so we’re only being presented with “Yes” information.

This was your second call to action. How will you respond?

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Lawrence is the treasure finder.

He’s the Operational Executive adept at uncovering often unseen/unrealized opportunity within companies who then leverages existing assets to ignite people, process and technology to power immediate and sustainable long-term growth for portfolio companies. Just ask The New York Times, Discover Card, Motorola and more than a dozen early stage companies.

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