The Ethical Minefield of Social Media

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Communications Management   Ethics  

I’m not overly active on social media, but I do try and tweet semi-regularly and am looking at increasing my presence on LinkedIn. Part of my 2016 business plan is directed toward social media and the opportunities it brings me. Project management seems to be very well represented on the different platforms, with a lot of content and a number of highly skilled, highly respected participants--and I think it’s important that I become a part of that to promote my brand.

I am sure that part of the reason there is a relatively high level of activity around project management is that many people in the profession are independent consultants who think along the same lines--social media gives them an opportunity to get their brand into the market.

This level of activity becomes self-sustaining--more activity encourages other people in the profession to join in discussions, which in turn generates more activity and draws in more participants, both contractors and employees. As a result of these high levels of engagement in all forms, social media is becoming a tremendously important tool for project managers, but it is not without its risks.

In this article, I want to look at how PMs can engage with social media in a constructive way without damaging their reputation or acting inappropriately.

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