Social media transparency: How realistic is it?
I embrace social media 100% and as a business owner social media has been proven for me. But, I know that a lot of marketing and PR professionals who are now just sticking their toe in the proverbial social media pool have questions; especially around the meaning and implementation of transparency.
As social media evangelists we talk about social media transparency and the importance of being forthright, authentic and honest. We also discuss that it’s about the “who” (people) not the “what” (brand or company), an important part of being transparent when it comes to social media.
That said, recently two incidents have happened that are making me re-think the term transparency.
As a business owner the first one is personal, but I think it’s important to share. In early February my father-in-law passed away and I was offline for over a week. A lot of people were contacting me because it wasn’t the norm and they were worried. When I jumped back online, I finally left a comment on Jason Fall’s blog (Kevin Palmer’s guest post) that I had told Kevin weeks before that I would write. Kevin might not have even notice that I hadn’t commented, but I wanted to keep my word. In commenting I apologize for the delay “due to a family situation.” And in retrospect, that was probably a mistake. Honestly, I didn’t want to be transparent…it was a private family matter, not for public consumption (even though there was a very public obituary). But, in trying to be transparent, I might have ended up seeming non-professional. I should have just said “sorry to be late to the party” the usual comment for tardiness. The thing is, people did know what had happened and offered their condolences online, it wasn’t a secret if people were paying attention to my Twitter stream. I have talked about my family before on Twitter, but this was different for me.
The second incident happened just yesterday. During the ghost writing debate, I was publicly annoyed because I felt that Heather and Mike Whaling were not being transparent in their use of social media (Twitter) while debating me (i.e. meaning that they were tweeting as two representatives from two agencies versus a married couple). I found out after the fact from Mike’s client, Eric Brown, that Heather and Mike were actually married. When I learned that, I just felt that the situation was disingenuous (not that they are disingenuous mind you, there’s a difference and I don’t believe that at all). Mike left a really nice note in which he explained that he didn’t think it was necessary to mix personal with professional. I totally get that, but I stated that in this particular situation I thought it was indeed very important to be transparent. But at the end of the day, it’s Mike’s personal decision to determine the level of transparency that’s best for him, his business and his family, right? Not all of us are on the same page for how much transparency is appropriate.
For a brief moment, let’s think about these situations from a non-social media perspective. Would they have happened in a traditional, offline environment? I bet they would, but would have been handled differently. We understand business conduct and yet we are still trying to work out how social media best works for business when we all have a voice and the desire to be “real.”
Here’s the one way we could potentially look at the spectrum of outbound communications (I am basing these loosely on light transmission definitions since we are talking about transparency):
- Opaque – where most companies lie in the spectrum. One-way conversations (i.e. normal marketing/PR)
- Translucent – Forthright, not revealing all, but still two-way conversations. (Ex: a person can be very professional on Twitter, engaging, but still not discussing his/her personal life)
- Transparency – Crystal clear, real two-way conversations (you know about this person’s personal life, business experience, product/service they market/brand, etc.).
From a business perspective is being translucent okay when it comes to social media? Are we using the word transparency correctly? Do we need to know everything? Do we care or not care to know everything? Do you want to feel like you have a transparent relationship with a brand/company? What happens when transparency goes wrong? What works?
Who decides what the appropriate level of transparency is? Who makes the rules? The person, the company or the community in which they interact? Where are the boundaries?
Lots of questions here…
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Tags: 33 Responses to “Social media transparency: How realistic is it?”
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Love the post Beth. Transparency is a blessing and a curse. I love that it allows for me to be completely open and honest with everything that I do. I embrace transparency to a ridiculous extent (I annoy the crap out of my girlfriend) and am often forgetful that other people actually want to have some level of privacy. As soon as I heard about the concept of transparency as a marketer I was hooked. I had essentially been living my life this way anyway…why not go full bore? I’ve enjoyed the results and hope others choose to do the same. You can feel naked at first, but eventually it will just feel natural.
Stuart Foster’s last blog post..The Blargument
Funny, I just replied to a comment on my blog today with a comment that can only be seen as me reinforcing the translucensy I prefer. I give much of myself, my personal biases, my points of views and am as transparent in my business as possible – but there are just something that cannot or should not be discussed in public.
Blogging that I’m sick and have therefore kept the post short is not the same as giving the details of a colonscopy and depression during recovery. Explaining that alternate means of distribution are being looked at, is not the same as printing the details of a contract.
Well said, thanks.
Cheers,
Erica
Erica Friedman’s last blog post..Yuri Manga: Hayate x Blade, Volume 9
A distinction I’ve used that helps clients understand how much transparency is required is to modify the word “relationship,” as in it’s a “commercial relationship.”
We often use interpersonal relationships as an analogy for the relationship marketing process. This is fine in that it helps everyone understand what is required but it’s misleading in that a commercial relationship doesn’t require the same level of transparency to still be real.
I wonder if I can say relationship any more often in this comment.
James Hipkin’s last blog post..5th Relationship Marketing Principle Relationship at Risk
I’ve had the discussion of transparency before as well and it definitely becomes tricky and dependent on the situation. One thing that I think we can agree upon is that translucency and transparency are the way to go. Why do I say this? Because they both consist of two-way conversations and that is a stance within social media that works.
It’s really based on each respective situation but as long as a conversational strategy is in place, that person or company’s choice of transparency should be respected, IMO.
Great thoughts, Beth!
Sonny Gill’s last blog post..Transparency – The Double-edged Sword
I think in the latter instance, the hidden-from-view relationship is the equivalent of a perceived (perhaps not real, but critical nonetheless) conflict of interest in a business sense. I would argue that it requires transparency. But I’m a communications professional, so I lean toward full disclose whenever there is a question.
If they weren’t married, on the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with keeping business and personal lives separate, and keeping personal lives more private obviously.
@StuartFoster, @EricaFriedman, @JamesHipkin, @SedefOnder, I believe in transparency but I also think that there are many levels between opacity and transparency and they will be defined person-by-person, company-by-company.
@SonnyGill, you did write about transparency…sorry, should have included the link. Here it is now: http://www.sonnygill.com/transparency-the-double-edged-sword
Great post Beth.
I’ve dwelled over the issue of transparency on my blog many times and will probably have to again after reading this. You bring up some very good points. While reading this post I came to the realization that there are different types of transparency and that’s where some of these issues lie. When we ask someone to be transparent in social media, are we asking them to be transparent in their daily experiences, or are we asking them to be transparent in their personality and actions.
I’ve always thought that the type of transparency that should always be present is the one dealing with one’s personality and actions. You shouldn’t pretend to be someone you’re not. I think that goes for everyone.
When it comes to being transparent in terms of your experiences, such as family issues or personal occurrences, it is up to the person. If someone chooses to share this type of information, I respect their transparency more. If they choose not to, I don’t hold it against them.
Thanks,
Dave
David Spinks’s last blog post..“Creative Authority” and Why It Shouldn’t Exist
Without a doubt I thought you were unprofessional and I cursed you multiple times for it. Actually I thought it was rather thoughtful of you to message me that you left a comment and I want to thank you for that. As far as offering up the reason, you didn’t have to, but you chose to. You didn’t need to give me a reason and either way it wouldn’t have changed my view of you making the extra effort to let me know.
I had written up a long diatribe about transparency being contextual but it really read like a rant. One of the biggest issues on the internet is the ability of people to handle things in context. (Be it a debate on a message board, a quoting of a source, or how people handle sarcasm in a message.)
Transparency is no different. The problem is so many people have a problem taking and understanding things in context that it leads to major issues it seems like transparency to a lot of people is all or nothing.
Kevin’s last blog post..If You Aren’t Growing In Social Media Then You Are Slowly Dying
@KevinPalmer, your sense of humor always makes me laugh, thanks for that!
Agreed, it is a contextual issue and that’s why I left this open ended…because I think it’s not only contextual, but personal. I can understand someone using social media tools, having conversations and never once exposing their personal life. As long as it’s consistent, I have no issues with it at all.
Good Evenging Beth,
Wow, I feel like a bit of a celebrity, I have made it into two of your posts!
A couple of observations, which you may have already noticed.
First, The World is Pretty Small and is getting Smaller. In this instance, I happen to have had the opportunity to meet you in person (and hug you, I liked that part, just for full disclosure) last summer. The fact that I know Mike really well, and watched the debate that night between you and Heather was a little strange for me, because I assumed you didn’t know they were married, although at the time I didn’t think about it as much as I did until AFTER reading your blog post with a zillion comments.
Then, I really felt compelled to post Full Disclosure, which I did. In hind sight perhaps should I have sent you a DM that night, not sure, but I really didn’t think that deeply about it
I think though, the bigger piece is that today, perhaps for the first time in recent history, it is much harder to hide, maybe imposable. And the CUSTOMER will find out. BTW, I am in no way suggesting Mike and or Heather were hiding anything, I assume they likely didn’t think much about it either. But my point is, what are the chances of someone watching that specific debate and to know all the parties and their relationships. Note that we are all from different parts of the country, and folks were using only avatar names.
I am convinced, more so than ever, the Customer today WILL NOT BE FOOLED. We are living in a world where, Everybody Knows Your Name!
As Social Media seeps into mainstream business, those executives that do not take heed in the fact that there is No Chance to Hide will feel the backlash wrath. Those who Embrace Transparency, in whatever that means will Rise and Command New Market Share from Customers who so disparately want to trust someone.
Eric Brown’s last blog post..Are you keeping tabs on brand experience?
Balance is always difficult to find. We tend to move easily from one extreme to its opposite. Especially with new concepts where models aren’t yet well set.
Because companies were opaque before doesn’t mean they need to be all transparent.
And transparency is all relative. I mean, if you could read everything that goes through my mind, you’d be so confused (as I am quite often). I put a lot of effort to not appear that way and, most of the time, it works
I think it’s the same for companies (at least where I work): Inside it’s a big mess. But, somewhat, all the effort employees put in to organizing and keeping it together transform chaos in structure.
If all possible I would vote for “situational” and “relevant” transparency such as a company saying to its niche’s influencers : We’re confused, help us, tell us what you think…but hiding that the VP of marketing and eng are having a big fight on it.
Hey Beth,
First, my condolences on the loss of your father-in-law. There’s no need to make excuses for your reaction in that case.
I agree that it’s a decision best left to the person, and also that there are a lot of open questions about this subject. From the comments, it’s apparent that those questions probably aren’t going to be answered definitively anytime soon.
You already know this, but let me reiterate that there was no intent to deceive or fool you or anyone else in our initial discussion. Heather and I have very separate professional lives and opinions, and we voice those opinions when we want to, usually without consulting the other first. I trust her ability to formulate and articulate her own arguments, and for some reason unknown to me, she does the same with me.
To echo Eric’s point, when I engage in professional conversations (online or otherwise) with people who don’t have any insight into my personal life, I assume they don’t know if I’m married. They don’t know if I have kids. (I don’t.) They don’t know where I’m from. (Ohio.) If a personal friendship develops from the relationship, they’ll likely get to know all of those things, and I’ll learn more about them.
It’s not that I’m hiding anything … I just prefer to have some separation there. Translucent, in your terms. Some people, especially those unfamiliar with the culture of social media, might just call it being professional. (On the other hand, there’s nothing explicitly wrong or right about being fully transparent, either.)
The point is, while I appreciate people who are transparent about the way they do business, I don’t necessarily expect those same folks to disclose anything about their personal lives. If they want to, that’s great … but I don’t look at them or their businesses differently if they don’t.
The question I would raise is this: Would business owners and other brand representatives be expected to disclose what “level” of transparency they’ve selected, or which boundaries they’re not willing to cross? It seems like those would be awkward and strange conversations to have with customers in many cases. Just jump in and do what you can to engage the community on their terms … they’ll tell you what they want to know.
In Eric’s case, do his customers think less of him if he leaves his “transparent” ways at the office? If he’s doing everything he can to thrill them with a great experience, I’m guessing they’ll be OK with that choice.
I understand the need for — and advantages of — transparency in business. I also see the benefits of the human face of the business that customers can develop a relationship with. That said, I think it asks an awful lot of business owners and brand marketers to disclose details about their personal lives, too. In my opinion, that would do more to scare away the companies — big and small — that are already unsure about social media and its value to the organization.
Mike Whaling’s last blog post..When You Listen, Customers Listen Back
@EricBrown, hope I didn’t embarrass you. The fact is, I admire you and what you are doing for Urbane Apartments and the industry as a whole. That was only reinforced by meeting you at the Small Business Marketing Unleashed conference!! I have been watching what you do, reading what you write and I know that one day your work will be a case study (if it isn’t already).
As you know, I agree with you…the world is getting smaller and smaller and with tools like Twitter, Twitter Search, etc. there are many ways to track conversations that are being had. Transparency or translucency are a company’s best bet.
@Laurent, the only thing that ever forced companies to be transparent were annual reports and SEC filings.
I would think most people would agree, they don’t care what’s going on internally…as long as what’s being done/said externally is transparent/translucent to some degree. Meaning that the customers don’t get hurt by something not being divulged or covered up (that’s an extreme example). But they do want to have relationships with the company and in that regard, transparency/translucency doesn’t hurt. That’s why SalesForce.com and the like have a notes section (i.e. Dave’s wife’s name is Joanne, he has 3 kids and a dog named Sam). It’s important to know these little things to build relationships.
@MikeWhaling, thank you for the condolences, I appreciate it! I hope you don’t mind me using you as an example here…but what you said on Twitter got me thinking. You’re right; the lines don’t blur the same way for everyone. Also, to clarify again, I was not implying that you and Heather were being deceitful (that’s a strong word) at all.
Here’s the thing…social media isn’t anything new. It’s the same relationship building we’ve all done in business for years, except that it’s online and it’s public. I bet you have lots of clients, vendors, etc. that know a lot about you that is personal.
I have vendors that I have carried with me from job-to-job, project-to-project for the last 5-10 years…why? Because I know them very well…I know about fights with their wives/husbands, I know when their kids are sick, I know when they are having a bad day, I know they are my advocate within their organization, I know what they are passionate about, I know how they spend their weekends and vice versa. I trust these people to make me look good and they also know me well enough to know that if they don’t give me 110% they are gone. But, it’s not one way…I recommend them without hesitation to a lot of companies and help them get contacts when they are trying to get into a company. That’s a strong relationship based on transparency, authenticity and honesty.
So, how to we transfer that offline kind of relationship to online?
As for the level of transparency, I think you just get a sense of that…by getting to know the person. Just like normal etiquette, you know what boundaries can be pushed and which ones can’t.
I’ll let Eric speak for himself, but from what I have observed, Eric is transparent in and out of the office. I don’t see him tweeting only ‘professional’ tweets from 8-5pm. He is credible and knows that he has to be ‘real’ to develop ongoing relationships.
The companies that are scared of social media are typically the ones that don’t allow their employees to have relationships with customers anyway. If having a genuine conversation that includes a professional and personal dialogue is prohibited, I’d venture a guess they won’t be around for long. From a sales perspective, just look at the top sales folks in an organization…their secret sauce isn’t that they know how to move products/services. Nope. It’s that they know the benefits of a good relationship & taking care of their customers/clients.
This is an interesting post. Since I work for an agency, I feel there are lines that need to be drawn between protecting a client’s interest and my own personal identity online. It is tough. VERY tough to figure out how I should put myself out there, both for the companies I work with, and my own personal identity.
I will likely continue to struggle with the many different aspects of protecting myself and being transparent. If there is one truth I have learned about entering the world of social media, before you abide by community rules, you have to know your comfort zone. Good example, I don’t know if I will EVER be comfortable with the whole video log thing. It just isn’t me. However, on the opposite side, what should I do if I need to do something for a client that requires a video?
I find it intriguing how these types of events and conversations stirs up more questions rather than providing realistic solutions.
Miguel’s last blog post..My Guitar, My Outlet
Don’t you know, there are no rules where social media is concerned. Each person does what’s right in their own eyes. It’s still the wild west out here.
As to your point about transparency, I don’t think being transparent means revealing every detail of your life’s story. It’s more of a way of looking at things (no pun intended) than a set of practices. It’s an attitude, one that I hope we would all embrace. It is the underlying foundation which makes any of this work. Without it, we’re screwed. Transparency is a given, or should be.
Hi Beth,
Terrific post, brought into even great context by all the wonderful comments. I agree with those who differentiate between personal and business transparency (the phrase TMI exists for a reason).
As in bricks and mortar workplaces, we all share elements of ourselves but not everything. Just about everyone knows I’m a big sports fan and love a good beer, but other pieces of myself are more likely to get divulged over time as those online relationships deepen and/or move offline.
As a solopreneur/business owner, it’s probably easier to answer this question. The real challenge–and the tougher question–is where the translucent/transparency line belongs for bigger organizations.
Best,
Daria
Great article!
I wrestle with this very issue myself when Tweeting for my company. How much can I say about myself before it crosses a line (un-professional or just too personal)? It’s hard and I’m not sure there IS a right or wrong answer.
I like to remember that while I am April and followers now know who I am, that I am still connected directly to the brand I represent and that I always have to remember that point before I type something. I have typed a few honestly-April sentences before, just to re-read and immediately delete.
Self-censorship is important for me, albeit it’s never come easily- while still offering decently large glimpses of who I really am. A real person that is easily identifiable to the average person out there.
Most people choose to be transparent as the need arises, which I dont consider to be a problem. If you choose to be so, great, if not that’s okay too. Why does the “crowd” have to decided if you should or should not be so?
Second, transparency is overrated, being authentic (which is marketing speak for honest) is move valuable I think.
Mukund Mohan’s last blog post..Social Media has no financial ROI. Anyone that claims it does is lying
Hi Beth
To me , transparency is a concept that is cristal clear. You say what you think and you do what you say. This being written, in a real world, where transparency has not been yet embraced by most companies, what do we do to help companies to rediscover the benefits of being transparent ? (because this is the only way IMHO to interact with customers ) . We could tell companies that they should…
1. assess the risks of not being transparent. check the banking crisis. banking business is based on customer’s trust. 85% of the content of web is UGC user generated content. You do’nt want to mess with your reputation
2. reassess the risks , check “wikileaks” on google…
3. assess the benefits of being transparent…”profits works poorly as an objective” source Harvard BR, F Reichfeld.
4. save time and worries. ie don’t tell lies you will have less to remember
Moving forward, one of the KPI measuring the transparency of a given company might be the number of bloggers working for this given company and identifying themselves when blogging as employee of this company
no ?
alain hemelinckx’s last blog post..la pensée de Gesell
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I concur with Mukund Mohan’s comments on: personal choice (vs. forced behaviour via herd or crowd mentality); proper linguistics (the characteristic of transparency is not a synonym for honesty…Bonnie and Clyde were transparent, seems to me); there’s no opening here for culture (Brits are more private than Americans for instance and that’s valued); “too much information” is not something I’m interested in (emotional intelligence is) and who the heck runs around saying “I want to be more transparent”? That’s like saying, quick somebody call a physican. In an emergency, I’m a-ok with somebody calling me a doctor.
I dunno, being kind and causing no harm works for me…all those long hard to pronounce (and spell) words seem to muddy the waters.
Clarity is the highest form of love.
Beth, my condolences for your loss. Its interesting, I had a similar experience. Last week our family lost our Great Aunt who was like a grandmother to us all. I’ve been sharing her health status for the last month and openly shared her passing on Twitter and in blog post. The thought of being transparent never occurred to me. It just seemed to be a natural way of expressing what I was going through and how I felt and I did this using the channels I’ve grown comfortable with. There were no second thoughts.
Perhaps the transparency rules may be something we only assign to ourselves and not to others.
When it comes to businesses/organizations the rules may change, but I don’t feel they change that much. Maybe it helps to start thinking about this in terms of “hiding things”. When you go out of your way to hide something from someone – well then that’s when it becomes dangerous. I don’t envy the companies that are going though this.
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Fabulous topic – there are many reasons for leveraging social media, for business, government or public interest, nonprofit fundraising, family communications, whatever – and equally many very good, legitimate, essential reasons for variations on the “translucent” theme. Legal protocol and policy may drive it, maturity or simple conservatism may drive it, or just common sense about online safety. It’s simply not smart to be utterly transparent as an adult or pre-adult, on the Internet. For example, why is precision about birthdates so necessary? Isn’t it enough to be a “mature professional in the second quarter of life”?
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