SOCIAL MEDIA Awareness A presentation for International Students in Australia

DON’T BE A ROBOT The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is funding research studying how to use Facebook and other social media as a platform to influence and control the thoughts and minds of large groups of people using mathematical models for the behaviour of robots and drones. Social media monitoring allows users to find insights into a brand's overall visibility on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, identify opportunities for engagement, assess competitor activity and share of voice, and be alerted to impending crises. It can also provide valuable information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific topics, brands or products. This allows companies to track what consumers are saying about their brands and actions. Companies can then react to these conversations and interact with consumers through social media platforms. YOU are at risk – don’t let the Government and companies control your thoughts!

Social Media Marketing You need to have an in-market team connecting with local audiences, managing and tracking posts, and working to meet project-specific goals – all while maintaining on-going metrics. You can extract your raw data, translate it with the help of both humans and machines and inject into your system in your domestic language. Companies can leverage a team of experts to examine and monitor their data and metrics, synthesizing it into reports that you can work with tactically.

It can make you not get a job Some of my friends have had problems with social media and employment Maybe the employer looked at their Facebook and saw some inappropriate photos. Although they invaded our privacy we will not get the job! There have been heaps of story like that in the newspaper too.

Read this - important In Judith Wilkinson-Reed v Launtoy Pty Ltd trading as Launceston Toyota (2014), the Fair Work Commission (FWC) considered the fact the employee who had been dismissed for postings she had made on Facebook had a low opinion of the business owner. The FWC considered that this did not make her employment untenable to justify her dismissal. In any event, the employee was merely passing on another employee’s comment. Should the employee have raised with the owner the disgruntlement among staff? Was the employee’s failure to do so a breach of her duty to the owner as the HR Manager? The FWC did not think so because the employee who was slighted had clearly indicated that she did not want the matter taken any further, and the staff who had spoken to her about the staff survey were senior managers whom she believed were capable of raising their own concerns with the owner. The FWC ruled that the comments made by the employee were in a private conversation and were not made in public or to employees or customers. They occurred between good friends who believed that they were participating in a private conversation through their respective Facebook accounts. The comments were not made as a post on a Facebook ‘wall’ that was then accessible to the ‘Friends’ of either party, or as a tweet visible to many followers. Neither party made intended for the conversation to be in the public domain and open for scrutiny and comment. There was no evidence of any concern about the employee’s interactions with the owner at the workplace or any evidence that the employee had in any way attempted to denigrate the owner to any person other than his wife. The Commissioner stated: “I do not think discovery by a manager that an employee holds a low opinion of him is sufficient reason to terminate the employment of a long serving employee with an impeccable employment record. In my view more is required, particularly some evidence that the employee’s opinion is having a deleterious effect on the workplace, its employees or the business of the employer.” The Commissioner determined the employee did not breach the employer’s social media policy, observing: “While the Facebook conversation may have been conducted by means of social media it was in the manner of a private email. It is unlikely that a policy that was an attempt by an employer to control the contents of private emails between their employees third parties, written in their own time and using their own equipment would be found to have the requisite connection to the employment relationship such that an employee could be terminated for a breach.“ 

Social media is great for keeping in touch with your new friends! Families are more spread out than ever before, and it’s challenging to keep in touch with loved ones across the country. Facebook is a fantastic and complete social networking tool that allows you to share status updates, photos, videos and more. Facebook is a great way to casually keep in touch with your college friends, and is relatively low maintenance and super user-friendly, compared to other social media sites. Facebook is also one of the best way to showcase your photos. Gone are the days of crowding around a photo album full of old Polaroids — you can share your favorite vintage or brand new photos easily on Facebook for all to see. This can be a great way to share your travels and vacations with your friends and family, and to keep up with what your friends are doing.

Bibliography http://www.employmentlawhandbook.com.au/tag/dismissed-for-social-media-use/ Friends with Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook by Darren Barefoot, and Julie Szabo http://www.after55.com/blog/3-tips-for-the-social-media-novice