Social Media are the preferred tool to present a personal opinion. As soon as this personal opinion starts to interact with the company policy a possible confrontation between those two start to emerge. It may be time to think about a Good Code of Conduct, but in what way? As personal opinions are personal by definition they lack all aspects related to non-verbal communication when expressed through Social Media. The writer cannot present under currents of the message and this is left to the reader of the message. Everybody may have had the following experience in the past: an e-mail written with the best of intentions is misunderstood by the recipient with a possible clash as a result.
I think a possible Good Code of Conduct should primarily target itself on compensating the lack of non-verbal communication in Social Media. How? It seems more than logical to use Common Sense for companies and writers alike preventing a top-down “What to do and not to do” statement from companies, governments etc.. The Good Code of Conduct should be envisaged by showing empathy for the recipient of the message by realizing what is Integrity and Respect and act accordingly. Hence, Social Media may keep growing organically as long as we accept and practice Integrity and Respect as a Good Code of Conduct. We are the ones with the obligation to practice it accordingly.
