Roche’s social media rules

August 17, 2010 – 10:07 am by Joshua Slatko

It was bound to happen eventually. Our friends at Roche have posted their very own company social media rules. Or, rather, the “Roche Social Media Principles.”

I don’t recall ever seeing what looks like internal corporate social media rules and regs posted in a public place like this. Doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened before – I try not to spend my days scouring big pharma Websites – but this might just be a first.

And Roche’s Rules are full of what looks like good common sense. Like,

The best advice is to approach online worlds in the same way we do the physical one – by using sound judgment and common sense, by adhering to the Company’s values, and by following the Roche Code of Conduct and all other policies.

and,

There is a big difference in speaking “on behalf of Roche� (as an official spokesperson) or speaking “about� Roche, our products or business partners. It is important that you always remember who you are or who you are representing and what your role is in the social media community.

Or,

Do take time – despite the speed and urgency of the new opportunities and challenges – to think through and plan for your engagement in the social media field. Always remember that engaging in social media is not a one-off activity. What is the long-term concept: who do you want to engage with, for what aim and result, what are opportunities and risks?

The underlying implication behind many of the rules appears to be, social media isn’t really different from other communication opportunities – people just treat it differently. Or, put differently, folks are lulled by the informality of the Web into forgetting that corporate communications will always be viewed and treated as corporate communications, no matter where they are found.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the Roche Rules is that half of them are devoted to what the company calls “personal” social media use; i.e., personal activities online where the user might refer to a Roche product or service but is not serving as an official spokesperson of the company. The Rules state a few points for “personal” social media use that seem obvious, but obviously haven’t been obvious. Like,

Be conscious about mixing your personal and business lives. There is no separation for others between your personal and your business profiles within social media.

and,

Mind the global audience. Even if you are posting on a “local� platform, the information may be accessed globally. This is particularly important in our regulated business. While your message may be accurate in some parts of the world, it could be inaccurate or violate regulations in others.

and, most importantly,

Be transparent about your affiliation with Roche. If you are commenting on any of Roche’s or our competitors’ products or initiatives in a public forum or on a website or personal blog, make sure to fully disclose your affiliation with Roche and that your opinions are personal and not attributable to Roche.

An unnamed senior marketing compliance executive for an unnamed big pharma company (not Roche) once told me that the single worry that keeps him up at night the most is regarding employees messing about on social media sites on their own time. He more or less said the same thing the Roche Rules imply – that, in the wilds of the Web, it is terrifyingly easy to forget about consequences. As the great purveyor of pornography, Second Life, AshleyMadison.com, and all sorts of wild gatherings of human oddities, the Internet earns much of its cachet by being a land without consequences. But not for Roche.