Uh oh… some of my fellow HR bloggers are a bit peeved about a piece that ran on Workforce recently about whether there needs to be a tighter rein on HR bloggers.
So, here’s the thing. Chances are that the majority of you out there who are reading this? You’re probably not upset about nor are you remotely interested in the article itself. And for that matter, you’re probably not interested in this blog posting of mine about the article as is the case with the vast majority of HR pros out there because – listen up, folks – the reality is that most HR people don’t read HR or recruiting blogs. This blog included. And therefore, most don’t care about whether there are conflicts of interest in our little industry and the subsequent little squabble conversation that’s broken out as a result of the article. Gasp! Did I really go there?
Now, comments may come in on this little bloggy of ours about how I’m wrong, or why the article was irresponsible, or inflammatory, or threatening, or disrespectful, or <insert your negative adjective of choice here>. Fine, get it out of your system and vent your frustrations. And then once you’re done? Let’s move on from this navel gazing and get back to the real work of figuring out how to master all things social media for our organizations. For real. A tighter rein on HR bloggers doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, especially when HR and recruiting blogging isn’t that widespread.
One of the top challenges I find myself talking about when it comes to the average HR or recruiting pro jumping into social media and getting started is that you can get sucked in and distracted by all the chatter taking place. You’re told that with social media you should be authentic, and that you should show your personal side… and then one thing leads to another and you’re sharing about the bad date you went on, your cats, your naughty or nice children or maybe your love life. And I made rookie mistakes in the beginning with all of my oversharing. You get caught up in all sorts of conversations about all kinds of non-HR and recruiting stuff because absolutely, the community you build is nice and lovely and oh-so supportive. But if you get too caught up, you may find yourself wondering why you got involved in social media in the first place at which point I’d say… ask yourself – have you made an impact in your organization with your usage of social media? Do you have a business objective with all of it? And what the heck is the relevance to your workplace?
Blogging and social media – whether you’re a consumer or a producer of information – is absolutely good for your organization and your career’s health but only if used in moderation and if used properly. You have to be clear. And you have to be focused. And when you lose that clarity and focus? That’s when social media’s credibility and the credibility of HR bloggers is lost.
The Workforce article may have set off conversations and chatter within the blogging community about whether HR bloggers are indeed credible and relevant, and whether they ought to be regulated or need to be more transparent about their affiliations and relationships. And you can argue all sorts of points on those matters… but I’d like us to stop. Let’s all take a deep breath, and then move on. Let’s stop talking about ourselves. Let’s stop talking about each other. Instead, let’s focus on and talk about what progress we’re actually making in our organizations because of and through social media. Let’s talk about practical applications for social media for HR pros and recruiters. And let’s talk about results. Everything else? It just doesn’t matter. And if we continue to talk about anything else, HR bloggers really won’t matter in the grand scheme of things.
Agree 100%. Seems like stereotypical bad HR to say “hey we’ve got an emerging idea and practice that seems to work. Let’s slap a governance process on it! We need to spend more time focusing on the process and less on the quality of results!”
Jessica, two thoughts:
1. Was there really much of a discussion? Struck me more as just some rough commentary on the poor quality of journalism in an article that attacked bloggers for poor journalism. Irony much?
2. Aren’t you also contributing the very chatter you’re arguing we squelch by writing this article?
- Chris
@dan – thanks for your note.
@chris – let’s call it my final stamp on the (non) “issue.” i like having the last word, what can i say?
I’m okay with navel gazing, to some extent, because good discussions are happening at ERE about the very nature of blogging and journalism. Those discussions are healthy and they seem to revolve around power, ego, and humility. If we don’t examine ourselves, how can we offer unbiased and credible advice to our customers and clients?
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Now I agree that there’s nothing more to say about the Workforce article, but how we give and receive feedback to one another speaks to greater issues around our character and integrity. If we fail at having an interesting, spirited and civil discourse with one another as bloggers, what does that say about us as recruiting & HR practitioners? What does this say about us as people?
dearest laurie -
i’m sure good discussions are happening at ERE about blogging and journalism, but i guarantee when you look at the 500 or so attendees? the vast majority, probably 80% of them, could care less. it’s within that small group of recruiting and HR folks who are “in the know” – you and me included – who are talking about it and kinda care. everyone else though? the regular, average attendee doesn’t care. and that’s the point.
i care more about delivering content for and having conversations with that vast majority who don’t care about the “issue.” and those are my intentions. that’s what matters for me, and that’s what i think a credible HR blogger should look like too.
as for giving and receiving feedback and spirited and civil discourse? we should absolutely have it – but in my humble, little opinion, i just don’t think this blog, your blog, or others blogs are the places to do it. who’s your audience? who is my audience? and what do they come here for and care about? it’s not this issue. it’s not the credibility of HR bloggers and transparency within the HR blogging community.
and yes… me blogging on the matter and responding to your comment is ironic in that regard, i understand and that was chris ferdinandi’s point. i know.
i hope you have fun at the diplomat! fantastic venue, great beach. see you in chicago at the HRTech show. i wanna check out the latest installations added to millennium park. you in to take a spin over there?
xoxo,
jessica
This is the first I have heard about the controversy. The article in Workforce seems to be well balanced and covers the issues fairly. I think it’s a good bit of reporting for its target audience.
I also agree with Jessica that it’s important for HR professionals that participate in social media during (and ostensibly for) work purposes to determine how these tools can add value to their organizations.
Having fun alone isn’t going to cut it. Networking…well….if you use the network for solving work challenges then terrific. If you use the network purely for social reasons, then you should be doing it on your own time after work and on weekends. I’m afraid it’s still true that the 40+ hour Monday – Friday work schedule still exists for the majority of HR professionals.
Luarie, Did Jessica at least buy you dinner before she grinfucked you? Did you at least get a phone call in the morning? Wow!
Seems to me like your point is entirely corporate. The fact of the matter is, ethics shouldn’t only count based on who’s watching. If you argument is (as it seems to be) that ethics and appropriate disclosure shouldn’t matter because nobody reads our blogs, then it’s ludicrous. I understand the big ol dose of humility you’re trying to dole out here, but you’re missing the point. Bloggers want to be seen as credible and authentic, that can’t happen unless they learn to follow the same rules that journalists have been working out for years. Whether the audience for that information or disclosure is large or small matters little. In fact, if it didn’t matter, you wouldn’t have been compelled to put the little blurb about Workforce at the bottom of this article.
I hear you, Maren. My point was not that ethics do not matter or that appropriate disclosure isn’t important. This is an issue facing every industry and verticle where blogging communities exist. My point was that only a small fraction of our blog audience and the greater HR/recruiting community cares about this issue and therefore, I don’t think our blogs are the place to play out the issue…
JL
Jessica Lee
senior employment manager
APCO Worldwide
202.386.0538 (bberry)
202.478.3723 (office)
jlee@apcoworldwide.com
:: this message was sent via blackberry ::
Oh, so your point wasn’t that the article should not have been written but that we shouldn’t take our time (as bloggers) to respond to it or get in a flap about it? That does change it a little for me. But I still think you’re incorrect. See, in order for us to figure out how all things social media can benefit our organizations, we need to have a way to make our message credible, transparent and above reproach. Blog posts will be seen as little more than shills for the latest product unless there is a bar set. We all get the press releases about this product or that new service in our inbox and as bloggers, we make individual choices about whether or not to endorse those. The article seems to be saying that those endorsements should be more apparent and if bloggers will not have enough professionalism to do it themselves, then perhaps a code of ethics or association will have to do it for them.
Jessica, you know a little bit about influence, having just been profiled in the Top 100 Influencers Series. Now if you were posting about products, services or organizations in a manner that did not disclose your affiliations with the aforementioned, I imagine more than a few people would be disappointed. It DOES matter. The same way it mattered when journalists were fighting and talking and writing about the same stuff generations ago. We now have college courses spanning entire semesters that cover those same conversations, who said what, what policies emerged, etc.
So in order for social media to benefit our organizations (which is one of the things you said we ought to be concerned with) we have to have these heated debates, exchanges, blog posts, dicsussions, whatever you want to call them. The navel gazing may be necessary to move things forward. We are shaping the fabric of what this will look like for consultants, corporate folk and HR peeps of the future. I think if you study the history of Public Relations (which I’m sure you have) you’ll find that the origin of that industry was something that looked very different not so long ago and continues to be shaped by policy and association to this day.
Great post for inspiring discussion though!
Every type of blog community is going through this same issue. For example, the once vaulted “mommy bloggers” heralded a new outlet for frank discussion of family matters and children, but soon a lot of them degenerated into products ads once marketers realized their readers represented an incredibly powerful demographic.
I think that it’s an important topic and suitable for discussion on industry blogs, because it helps readers further understand the context of many of the publications that they are reading. It’s a good thing for people to know that they aren’t always receiving completely objective content. By introducing the topic, perhaps Workforce saved someone from a poor product decision based on some guy or gal’s “less than frank” review of said product. So it’s good for the readers and good for the industry.
Bloggers certainly should implement the same best practices as journalists and MUST to build a credible reputation – BUT my feeling is that these decisions have to be left to the individual. When I hear suggestions about some beaurocracy regulating the contextual or intentional spirit of an online author, I feel a little sick. I can’t believe anyone would want the government to provide a litmus test for blog authenticity, but (rather incredibly) many think it’s a great idea.