Live Tweeting: Social Media Week IABC

Last night (Feb. 8 ), as part of New York Social Media Week* I attended a panel discussion sponsored by the New York chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators at my old stomping grounds, the McGraw-Hill building, titled:

When Publicly-Held Companies’ Free-Wheeling Social Media
Collides with Disclosure Policies

When employees in a publicly-held company disclose “material information” via Social Media, the risks and ramifications are enormous.  It could even result in the Securities and Exchange Commission investigating your firm or imposing a fine – all because they found out through the wrong channel.

The panelists were:

• Standard & Poor’s, Alice Cherry, Senior Director of Social Media
• Pfizer, Kate Bird, Director, Corporate Internet Communications
• AT&T, Paul Dalessio, Vice President at Fleishman Hillard (agency)
• Definition 6, Gil Wolchock, Group Account Director [Moderator]

The spin on this discussion was it involved companies that operate under strict regulatory guidelines in addition to normal corporate concerns over social media use. Here are my tweets broadcast from the event (in chronological order):

• roncasalotti At ‘When Publicly-Held Companies Free-Wheeling Social Media Collides…’ at 1221 6th Ave McGraw-Hill bldg for social media week #smwnyc Tuesday, 08 February 2011, 6:19 pm
• roncasalotti Alice Cherry S&P: Regulated businesses like Standard & Poors must restrict associate social media use due to retention reqs #iabcnyc #smwnyc Tuesday, 08 February 2011, 6:38 pm
• roncasalotti Kate Bird #Pfizer: also very restricted by law re: social media. Not allowed to mention own products or allow comments #iabcnyc #smwnyc Tuesday, 08 February 2011, 6:42 pm
• roncasalotti Paul Dalessio for AT&T: Successful using social media to turn haters into supporters and give a peek behind the curtain #iabcnyc #smwnyc Tuesday, 08 February 2011, 6:46 pm
• roncasalotti Kate Bird #Pfizer Pharma can use social to engage customers re: their health problems/issues without mentioning brands. #iabcnyc #smwnyc Tuesday, 08 February 2011, 6:55 pm
• roncasalotti Alice Cherry S&P will invest in capture and retention systems to loosen the reins on associate use of social #iabcnyc #smwnyc Tuesday, 08 February 2011, 6:59 pm
• roncasalotti Two useful products for tracking brand sentiment Spreadfast and Context Optional #iabcnyc #smwnyc Tuesday, 08 February 2011, 7:07 pm
• roncasalotti At&t has an extensive internal social platform; MHC to launch new internal platform in June; Pfizer has internal Facebook #iabcnyc #smwnyc Tuesday, 08 February 2011, 7:13 pm
• roncasalotti Alice Cherry S&P: First step for companies starting social media: do the research; know your landscape #iabcnyc #smwnyc Tuesday, 08 February 2011, 7:33 pm

* – Social Media Week is a coordinated schedule of loosely organized events related to social media that occurs in cities worldwide at various times of the year. New York Social Media Week 2011 is Feb 7-11.