Social media. The potential for digital quicksand

I am reliably informed, by my 14 year old daughter, that “you’re too old for social media. Who would want to see what you’re doing?”

Who indeed? Heaven knows half the time even I don’t.

Never-the-less social media is here to stay and anyone in a position of authority and power, be that in a business or in government, needs to understand a few rules about how and when to engage and, perhaps even more importantly, when to stay clear.

Let’s start with the obvious. Ashley Madison.

Surely the rule around that particular site should have been obvious. If you want to conduct a clandestine affair it is probably not wise to advertise your desire to do so in the digital equivalent of the town square.

Yes, the site administrators will assure you that confidentiality is their guiding principle but you are on a public communication platform. It is most likely that the aforementioned 14 year old possesses the skills to ensure that your confidential information is shared with the rest of the English speaking world.

So the rule is: Private is not on the net.

Now for something a little trickier. Personal social media presence impacting on professional lives.

 An example:

You have recently started a new relationship with someone from your office. The two of you decide on a romantic getaway in scenic Tasmania, no doubt to study the plight of the Tassie Devil. Your new squeeze posts lovely images of your trip on her Facebook page. All her mates are chuffed for her.

Trouble is you are a federal government minister and one of those images turns up on the front page of The Australian, years later, to highlight the hypocrisy of your indignation at another parliamentarian’s profligacy with the public purse in taking unnecessary helicopter rides. Come on down Tony Burke.

The rule here is just as important for business leaders as it is for politicians: If you are in a position of power and in the public eye (even if it is a limited industry specific public) you need to carefully consider your need for a Facebook or Twitter, or other social media presence, and what you post.

We have lost count of the number of careers ruined by an undisciplined Tweet or Facebook faux pas.

If you are a captain of industry, a community leader, politician or media personality or even if you’re just in a career that requires a degree of social sensitivity, not only should your social media presence be very circumspect but those of your significant others should be as well.

I’m looking at you Eddie McGuire, Mark Latham, Anthony Wiener, PR exec who tweeted that she hoped she did not get AIDS in Africa, “…no wait… I’m white”

In today’s world the personal can also rapidly impact on the collective and corporate. Think of the young KFC staff who thought it would be funny to post pictures of themselves bathing in the chicken fryers they were cleaning out. If the CEO needs to be social media savvy then most certainly there is a need for a staff social media policy in any organisation with a public interface.

Now we come to brands, corporations and government bodies on social media.

Even trickier.

A recent episode of the ABC satire Utopia featured an exchange that holds more truth than most would credit.

When talking about launching a major new road tunnel project the group discussed choosing a name for the tunnel-boring machine. When asked why a tunnel-boring machine needed a name the straight-faced answer was “for its Facebook page”. One can only imagine the value of such a Facebook page and the fans that ‘Churro’ (that’s the name they chose, because the machine came from Spain) would attract.

While the Utopia gag illustrates a comical waste of time and effort on social media. There are myriad examples where unnecessary, inappropriate and/or poorly timed and ill-thought-through social media presence has backfired, spectacularly.

 

Here are some examples:

Qantas brilliantly timed a participatory twitter campaign #QantasLuxury with the grounding of their fleet due to an industrial dispute. Result;

#QantasLuxury Flights that leave on schedule because Management doesn’t arbitrarily shut down the airline

and

#qantasluxury is the dream world Alan Joyce lives in where all the feedback to the Qantas action has been positive.

Thousands of tweets on everything from late flights to poor inflight food continued for the four days of the campaign.

 

LG tried to make fun of Apple’s perceived issue with early iPhone 6 units allegedly bending at #bendgate by tweeting from the LG France account that “Our smartphones don’t bend, they are naturally curved ;).The only problem, the Tweet was sent from an iPhone.

To celebrate July 4, USA cotton clothing purveyor American Apparel used its tumblr page to post a picture of what they thought was a firework, that was actually space shuttle Challenger exploding. After receiving lots of negative feedback the company apologised, saying that the social media manager was born after the Challenger disaster and didn’t realize what the picture was.

 

All of the above could have been easily avoided by ensuing appropriate disciplines were in place to check and double check social media interactions. Not to mention to interrogate what value the proposed engagement against the possible risk. In other words; what could possibly go wrong?

Now back to the 14 year old.

She and her fellow digital natives may feel that social media is only for them but the fact is everyone had bought-in, if only in a small way. The lesson her school, not to mention her parents, keep reinforcing is that once it’s out there it’s out there, forever! And forever is not just the next 6 months.

If you need guidance through the social media maze, a corporate social media policy or just a fresh set of external eyes ICG has built a thorough understanding of social media value, opportunity and risk and can advise on appropriate strategies.

Pioneering Education Services Company To Boost Queensland Vet Sector

Queensland is lagging behind the rest of Australia in vocational education and training (VET). Despite a population boom, in the past decade there has been zero growth in VET student numbers to 2012[1], with enrolments falling by a further 12 per cent in 2013[2].

Global Learning Support (GLS), is exhibiting at the ACPET[3] Forum in Brisbane today (29 April) to demonstrate to private vocational education and training providers its unique suite of tools that dramatically improve student completion rates.

GLS co-founder, Jarrod Nation, said the Australian economy is evolving rapidly and without skilling, up-skilling, or cross skilling Australians nationwide there will be chronic skills shortages that will halt productivity growth and lead to declines in Australian living standards.

“GLS is all about the student. Not only do we conduct due-diligence to ensure that students are suited to courses and ready for their rigours, we also provide them with coaching and mentoring services across the journey of their education,” Mr Nation said.

“Queensland lags behind the national VET participation rate in Australia with only 9.7 per cent studying compared with 12 per cent nationally[4]. Therefore it’s even more important that those Queenslanders who are making the effort to improve their skill set are given the support that they need to complete their endeavours.”

GLS is principally targeted at those studying online where the symptoms of disengagement are much harder to identify than in the classroom. Through the delivery of education, years of R&D, and a genuine commitment to student outcomes, the founders of GLS developed the tools to recognise students at risk of non-completion and implement interventions that mitigate this risk.

The ACPET State Forum has the theme: “Quality Governance – Quality Education – Quality Membership” and is being held at the Stamford Plaza, Corner Edward and Margaret Streets, Brisbane, Wednesday 29 April, 8:30AM to 5:30PM.

 

For media enquiries and interviews please contact:

RMKA: (03) 9036 6390 / Angus Nicholls 0407 495 644 / Maria Vampatella 0421 112 216 

             


 

About Global Learning Support (GLS) www.globallearningsupport.com

GLS is a leading education services provider. The company partners with education providers and uses its proprietary student support, engagement, and management tools to increase course completion rates.

Currently supporting in excess of 25,000 students, GLS tools have seen online course retention rates as high as 98%.

One of the keys to the success of GLS is maintaining the human touch even while students are completing their courses online.

Key stats:

  • Across Australia 1 in 8 people (12 per cent) were studying VET courses in 2013 compared with only 1 in 10 (9.7 per cent) in Queensland.
  • Queensland spends much less on education than the national average and the gap is widening.
  • Queensland is the most expensive place to educate a student in Australia behind Tasmania. It cost approximately $17.50 per hour to educate a student in 2010, compared to a national cost of approximately $16 per hour.
  • Source: Report of the Queensland Skills and Training Taskforce
  • The national average was 325 per person, in QLD it was 305 per person in 2010 Source: Productivity Commission 2012 Report on Government Services

 

[1] Report of the Queensland Skills and Training Taskforce
[2] http://the-scan.com/2014/10/31/snapshot-of-vocational-education-and-training-in-australia-infographics/
[3] Australian Council for Private Education and Training
[4] Report of the Queensland Skills and Training Taskforce

Country of Origin Labelling

A year ago we explored the question of what was the most valuable role that governments could play in capitalising on supplying Australian food and fibre products to the booming export markets to our north (read article here).

During the intervening 12-months our opinion that there needs to be increased promotion of Australian product through a dedicated branding initiative has not diminished. In fact, as the economy goes through the transition that we hear so much about, the need for such action is heightened.

Over recent weeks there has been some commentary on virtually the inverse of an export brand in the form of Country of Origin Labeling.

Stimulated by the Hepatitis A berry outbreak of February this year, the Department of Industry and Science has conducted two-months worth of industry consultation, and now has a community survey open (CoOL Community Survey) until 3 July.

Commendable as it is to consult broadly, it is difficult to shake the notion that this exercise is being guided down a certain path. Admittedly, we did not participate in the industry consultations, however a healthy dose of skepticism is always warranted when community views are gathered in a closed format as this one is.

It’s the considered opinion of this business that what is truly required is to burn the Rome of food labeling to the ground and rebuild it in its entirety based on what it is that the consumer wants. Nay, demands.

We are living in a Monty Pythonesque food labeling dystopia when food can be ‘Made in Australia’ without using any Australian ingredients.

It has been made abundantly clear by the Australian public (who coincidentally consume these products, feed them to their children, and actually pay for them) that they simply want to know where their food comes from.

One would think that by starting with such a simple premise it would be near impossible to obfuscate the matter to such an extent that the Department finds that current laws are ‘of little relevance to consumers’ whilst simultaneously being ‘burdensome to business.’

It is our sincere hope the current consultative process yields a clear and concise representation of where the product has come from to permit Australian consumers the ability to make informed purchasing decisions.

Now that is starting to sound a bit like a brand.

Global Learning Support commits $10,000 to support Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision

The poorly understood condition of Bone Marrow Failure Syndrome, one form of which is known as Aplastic Anemia, has received a major boost.

On Wednesday 10 June, St Kilda Football Club Captain, Nick Riewoldt, and his family launched Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision (MRV). The Riewoldt family established MRV after Aplastic Anemia tragically claimed the life of their sister and daughter Maddie, 26, in February this year.

MRV has been launched in memory of Maddie, and embodies the spirit that she showed over the course of her 5-year battle with the illness. Maddie never gave up as illustrated by the extraordinary 227 days she spent in the ICU of the Royal Melbourne Hospital; the longest stay of any patient in the ICU in the Hospital’s history.

Global Learning Support (GLS) has given MRV a kick-start by making a donation of $10,000.

Speaking about why GLS made the donation company co-founder, Jarrod Nation, said.

“Maddie’s serene exterior did not belie the fighter that she was, and we as a company wanted to contribute to MRV in its fight to ultimately find a cure for this condition about which little is known.”

 

“It generally affects young people in their teens and twenties, those who represent the future of this country. We simply felt that we needed to do something about the fact that it is grossly underserviced and researched.”

Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision aims to raise awareness of Aplastic Anemia, how it affects young people, improving knowledge of the illness, providing support into treatment and ultimately finding a cure for it so that others do not suffer what Maddie did.

“I urge every mum and dad who have been blessed with healthy children to get behind MRV to assist those who are not so fortunate” Mr Nation said.

To donate to Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision please visit www.mrv.org.au or SMS ‘Maddie’ to 0437 371 371.

 

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Jarrod Nation, GLS Co-Founder

M: 0418 128 300

 


About Global Learning Support (GLS)

www.globallearningsupport.com

GLS is a leading education services provider. The company partners with education providers and uses its proprietary student support, engagement, and management tools to increase course completion rates.

Currently supporting in excess of 25,000 students, GLS tools have seen online course retention rates as high as 98%.

One of the keys to the success of GLS is maintaining the human touch even while students are completing their courses online.