This is so cool. This is a great idea to leverage already existing content and funnel it to an audience that you have control over. Really amazing idea.
I didn't disclose specifics because it would reveal the company I was talking about, but it was in conjunction with the release of Windows Media Center. Many OEMs launched specific software packages associated with managing media on a PC with a TV tuner card.
I feel old now that no one remembers the media pc fad. We shopped and shopped for one that would fit into our entertainment center and eventually just had to build our own...
You're injecting emotion and words that were never in the post. I didn't get "mouthy". I also wasn't "negative". It also wasn't the "company" that targeted me. I wasn't "enacting change". There was never a "company response".
> ... I showed Rick the platform's essential functions. Eventually, he created the company's Social Media Council, and I was appointed as one of the founding members.
It seems the SVP was in company representative in charge of PR / social media? If so, he was the party responsible for the team and thus "the team"?
> The SVP backchanneled unfounded complaints to my director in order to get me in trouble.
Seems like the SVP was going through the command chain to direct his complaints / concerns to you. That's the typical way corporate structures work.
I believe you, I'm trying to counter the narrative that there is some way you could have misinterpreted otherwise "normal" administrative disciplinary communication
I want to address the point that I was "stepping out of line." In my role, I was in constant contact with marketing and PR. We worked very closely together and met every week. I'm still friends with many of them to this day. My manager was also fully supportive of my participation on social media and even wrote it into my goals with time carved out, especially for this task. There was no question about the quality of my work. I was even promoted during this time frame.
I only spoke about information that was already public, and as I stated before, I was PR trained by the company as an encouragement to talk more openly. I was also in promotional material for the company because they felt I was such a good representative of their values. They not only loved what I was doing but repeatedly encouraged me to continue with their full endorsement.
Also, as previously stated, I was a founding member of their social media council. We created policies that determined how and what employees could participate in social media and the associated training. This SVP was not initially in social media management because there was zero established formal presence, to begin with. Back then, companies were not widely on social media like they are today.
I know we might have different ways of approaching work, and I've also changed my views over time, but your read that I was not engaged or passionate about my "main" job is a flawed take. It was actually the exact opposite. I was very good at my job and loved it. I was not neglecting my role but going above and beyond.
First, I appreciate your response. I actual have had similar experiences in terms of doing what I was told and being slapped down by a SVP in a different department due to being an "upstart". So, I fully appreciate where you are coming from and have experience.
That said,
1. Business is cut throat. It's helpful for people in business to be cut throat, it helps them to survive and move up the org structure. They also get budgets and climb the ladder through increasing headcount below them.
2. This SVP didn't have you reporting to them, it sounds like you were putting their role at risk. It appears you didn't coordinate PR campaigns and didn't get approval for every statement (how else were your posts flagged, if you didn't post without prior approval). It could be a lack of policy which created these issues, but IMO I can see why the SVP responded the way they did. You can call it bullying if you'd like, but that's life and the way it works.
3. Even with point 1 and 2, something seems off. No one thought it was weird your posts were being flagged? No one backed you up? This new SVP just moved in and removed you with no comment? Why? People don't act hostile for no reason. Did the SVP just view you as a threat? Seems like something is missing.
Finally, I definitely would have personally handled it by just speaking with you or working through it. I've worked a lot with public relations teams and never would have thought they'd lash out at their public face (seems like a bad policy...).
> Eventually, he acquired the tweets in question, and we were both stunned about why these benign tweets, which were clearly not about the company's financials, were being flagged. Then, he finally confided in me that the person who reported this to him was the SVP I had been working with previously, Rick.
I used the term "flagged" which was described in the article. I assumed it means that "this SVP was sharing them with your boss and saying -- this is bad" or something.
Who was this SVP? Why did he setup the social media council? What was his job function?
I am sorry you went through all that. The SVP sounds like a dick, irrespective of what you tweeted/didn't tweet.
I am curious, do you still do social media just as much on the side, or is it your main job now? And do you look back at your days then and think you were tweeting too hard?
I wasn't tweeting too hard. I still am very active on social media, but I don't let it conflict with my job. Some would say that my visibility on social media aids in my effectiveness in my profession.
