Businesses in all sectors now make extremely effective use of social media. Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram enables messages to quickly reach a large audience – free of charge. Linkedin is arguably the most professional of all the social media platforms and allows PTSG to announce developments across the Group as and when they happen.

Our media partner, Mercury, puts out all the main company messages via Linkedin (new contracts, awards, new starters, job adverts and other company messages). All daily news stories are also posted on Twitter.

We understand that staff and engineers also post updates of their work in the form of “mini case studies” on their personal social media pages. If you do this, please ensure you uphold the professional tone of the company. While social media is a great way of attracting positive feedback about our work, it can sometimes attract negative comments too, which can be potentially damaging to our reputation.

Things to do – for all colleagues:

  • Do always treat others with respect, even in the face of abuse. People who work for PTSG should set an example for civilised public debate.
  • Do assume anything you say or post will be viewed critically.
  • Even if you are posting in what appears to be a ‘private’ group, or you have locked down your privacy settings on your accounts, do apply the same standards as if you were posting publicly.
  • Do be aware that there is no difference between how a personal and an ‘official’ account is perceived on social media: disclaimers do not offer protection.
  • If you know you’ve got something wrong, do correct it quickly and openly.
  • Do respect the confidentiality of internal meetings and discussion.
  • Do be careful with rebuttals – they can feed conflict.
  • If you are “live tweeting” a story, do clearly indicate it is developing and your posts are not a final or settled view.
  • Do think how to signal that a post is a professional judgement, not a personal opinion, with caveats or links to context.
  • Do use separate posts on public issues rather than join threads started by others.

Things not to do – for all colleagues:

  • Do not be drawn into ill-tempered exchanges, or exchanges that will reflect badly on you, or PTSG.
  • Do not post when your judgement may be impaired.
  • Do not offer judgements beyond your specialism.
  • Do not sacrifice accuracy for speed. Second and right is always better than first and wrong – an inaccurate post is a problem for you, your colleagues and PTSG.
  • Do not link to anything you haven’t read fully.
  • Do not be seduced by the informality of tone and language on social media.
  • Your posts about contracts and projects require careful thought and editorial discipline.
  • Do not post anything that wouldn’t be said by PTSG Directors.
  • Do not mistake social media networks as accurate reflections of public opinion; your audience is overwhelmingly elsewhere.
  • Do not use pictures that show anything that could be considered unsafe – in real life or as a muse.

It is important that your personal social media accounts do not bring PTSG, its people and its products and services into disrepute.