I’m a business advocate, consultant and trainer for contact center solutions and social media; so, if I can also add a rephrased question, “Should business owners allow their officers and staff to use Facebook with their prospective and existing customers?” For both questions, my answer will always be a resounding “Yes!” Let me explain.

Social Media Today reports that a state law in Missouri, which would have prevented teachers and students from communicating privately over the Internet on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter was temporarily blocked, but if the injunction is lifted, it could have national implications. The law, also known as Senate Bill 54 or the Amy Hestir Student Protection Act, aims to fight inappropriate contact between students and teachers, including protecting children from sexual misconduct by their educators and is named after a Missouri public school student who was repeatedly molested by a teacher several decades ago. Oh, dear…

I once read a Facebook Note where some teachers actively use Facebook to connect to their students, seeing that social media is an extension of the added responsibility of being a public figure. Though many stay away from Facebook for fear of ethical, moral and often times the fear of even very ridiculous allegations, one workaround I kept reading is to accept only graduates or those who are over the age of 18.

Of course, the online social media relationship has to stay online. Teachers must not invite students, graduate or even above eighteen, for example, to a dinner party. Facebook today has given us the ability to set privacy settings all the way to each message or link we share and post on our wall. One way is to use (friend) “Lists,” though having existed for quite some time now, has been elevated and placed at the left-column list above the Group and Page lists. Teachers can sort their friends according to user-defined lists, whether as generic as “students” to more specific like “Biology 101 SY2009.”

Long before the internet and the World Wide Web, teachers going beyond their normal paid hours to help lagging students have always been the best hero example for young minds. In primary and middle school years, just seeing my teacher staying in school to help my best friend improve his math skills was a very, very positive image that has stuck in my mind until this day (and learning later in life that those sessions were unpaid hours). Now that our world has expanded the use of the internet into social media sites like Facebook, why do people want to bar its use to enhance the ability of those “heroes” doing what they love to do without having to stay late at night in school?

I believe these naysayers are those who have not looked into social media in-depth before coming up with their conclusion that Facebook is bad for their children, and staying up until late evening in school with a teacher conducting extra remedial lessons is good. I’ve seen many similar instances in small and mid-sized businesses where the boss and owner bans Facebook because he thinks it decreases productivity. The word “think” is actually a public relations mockup; the real word the boss meant was “guess.” Ignorance of the law is not an excuse, as we have all been told. Is ignorance of social media an excuse?

I’ve encountered marketing groups of both big and small businesses setting up their Facebook Page and realizing later they have to disable wall posting from their fans (people who clicked the “Like” button) because many were reading the complaints of a few. “Huh? You’re scared of that? That only means you believe your business has crappy products and services, or everyone in your company doesn’t have the common sense and good judgment to answer back amiably, respectfully, correctly and every postively-enforced “ly” word we can both think of.” Don’t you know Facebook is actually one of the best, cheapest, unpaid means of delivering great customer service and care right smack in the eyes of thousands if not millions of your fans, another freebie for awesome public relations? Facebook and the rest of the social media sites are not print media to market and sell your product and service to the entire world; it’s a targetted, supercharged “Word of Mouth” medium that either creates or extends both social, educational and professional relationships outside of the coffee shop, the work place or the school.

If you’re a teacher, a school head, an academic institution owner; heck! If you’re even business owner, the head of a department, part of the strategic or executive committee driving and steering your organization – heed the voices of your customer. They’ve already been using Facebook and other social media sites long before you’ve even realized they’re there. They’ve gotten so comfortable with Facebook it’s now part of their everyday life; the use of broadsheet publications and TV has probably gone down BUT (strong emphasis on that word) these have not disappeared.

Are you waiting for your competitor grab the “first mover advantage?” Worst, are you waiting for someone to impersonate you, gain all your would-be fans before you enter the digital social world? I know our local, major utility company is scratching its head trying to figure out how to kick the living hell out of the the several impersonators who now have thousands of followers; only now did they realize and decide to create their Facebook Page. Sheesh!

Let’s go back to the school and their teachers. Would you rather your students learn stuff from other people? Right or wrong, Facebook can lead them to the wrong path, much like the impersonators we’ve all seen before (so far, only Twitter acknowledges legitimacy of individual and organizational accounts in its microblogging site if you can prove to them who you really are). Is leading them to the wrong path just the parents’ fault or is it also “YOUR” fault? I honestly believe the teacher, that greatest public figure of young people who adore their moms, dads and (secretly, usually) their teachers, should begin to learn and equip themselves with the benefits, advantages and power of social media as an academic tool so that they can bring their social responsibiliy in the physical world to the social media realm, where their students wouldn’t stop bantering and swapping information, more so, asking school-related questions.

There’s an impulsive way of entering social media for the educational and business organization, and there’s a more proper way of doing so. The challenge is finding that proper and right way of doing so; and the million Dollar question is will you decide to do so?

Sources: Social Media Today | The Facebook Blog | National Middle School Association

Photo above by clarkstown67 at Flickr.com

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