#media140 : "Do"s and "Don't"s in Social Media

Adam Tinworth
Adam Tinworth

The idea of brands joining in on people’s private conversations is just creepy, suggests Lloyd Davis (alloyddavis) of the Tuttle Club.

- Be honest and transparent, don’t lie or fake it.
Daren Forsyth (@darenBBC) points out that human is basically the default mode of Twitter. Think about how human and how subtle you can be. 
And the converse? [Habitat](http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/jun/22/twitter-advertising). Lots of debate as to wether the rules of social media are obvious, or need thinking about. If they’re so obvious, why did Habitat get it so wrong. The answer offered is that it was “a kid”, but that seems like a cop-out. 
George Nimah (@iboy) is doing his best to kick the panel more into gear, but suggesting that a panel of advertising folks talking about evidence is up there with military intelligence as an oxymoron. We need more honesty, like being honest that Peperami was as much about saving money in a recession as about being creative. (Follow the money.)
Daljit Bhurji of Diffusion PR (@daljit_bhurji) suggests that it’s as much about how you turn things around in a crisis. Dell has recovered brilliantly from [Dell Hell](http://www.buzzmachine.com/archives/cat_dell.html), and even Habitat now has a good agency behind their Twitter stream. (An agency. Not people in the company. Doesn’t sound good to me). 
Lloyd raises the issue of celebs using their entourage to tweet for them – which does their image harm. George says it’s about being clear. If you tweet under your name, make sure it’s you. If you tweet under a brand name, be clear who it is that’s tweeting on behalf of a brand. 
I like Daren’s suggestion that companies need to identify their conversationalists – and all have them already – and use them as their social media first line, as it were.
Two pieces of wisdom from Lloyd: We’re all making this up as we go along, and don’t use spam bots.

Adam Tinworth Twitter

Adam is a digital journalism lecturer, trainer and writer. He's been a blogger for over 20 years, a journalist for 30 and teaches audience strategy and engagement at City St George’s, London.

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