Memo to political candidates: You better start watching what your staffers are posting on social media.
There's a new startup firm called Shield Political Research, and you should be terrified of them. Why? Because your opponents can hire them to monitor the social media accounts of your staffers to find embarrassing content.
This is from the company's website:
“Many of the men and women who will staff and lead campaigns this cycle are from a generation in which virtually their entire adult lives —for better or worse —are reflected on social media accounts.
Shield will examine these social media accounts—Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, among other sites—and flag any potential sources of trouble, including questionable photos, comments, tweets, ‘likes’ or followed feeds.
Our methods go beyond simple searching, using triangulation, archived pages and social-web analysis to guarantee we capture a full picture of the staffer’s social media footprint.”
Mr. Media Training says you should start changing your approach immediately, and here are some tips for you to follow:
1. Your organization needs a social media policy.
2. Make sure your employees know that nothing in their social media world is private.
That little disclaimer line, “Tweets/posts reflect my personal opinion and not that of my employer” are meaningless.
3. Know your rights as an employer.
