Presentation from American Psychological Association National Convention 2012 Symposium. Guidelines for social media for clinicians, practitioners and professionals.

1. Guidelines for Professionals and Practitioners
Pamela Rutledge, PhD, MBA
Director, Media Psychology Research Center
prutledge@mprcenter.org
@pamelarutledge
2012 APA Annual Convention, Orlando, Florida
August 2, 2012

2. Pamela Rutledge, PhD, MBA
• Director, Media Psychology Research Center
• Faculty, Massachusetts School Of Professional
Psychology And Instructor, UCIrvine Ex
• Blogger, Psychology Today, Positively Media
• Interests: Transmedia narratives, visual and data
design, designing for optimal engagement
• Expert source for the media on psychological
implications of emerging and social technologies

3. The Big Questions
1. What is your digital presence?
2. What do you want it to be?
3. How do you manage your digital
presence to support your professional
goals and ethical standards?

4. It’s A Social World
• Social media has benefits
and pitfalls
• You have a digital presence
whether you know it or not
• You can’t control it, but you
can actively participate and
monitor it

5. Key Point #1
There is a difference
between a digital presence
and social media

6. Digital Presence vs. Social Media
• Digital presence = public online impression
– Multiple sources
– Additive impressions
• Social media are tools
– Like any tool, you have to use them for them to work

7. Key Point #2
Different types of social
media have different
properties

8. Social Media are Information Organizers
• Information searches
– Google, Yahoo, Bing
• Folksonomy: Tagging and Curation
– Digg, Scoop it!
• Blogs/Microblogs
– Blogster, Twitter, Posterous
• Wikis
– Collaborative databases, like Wikipedia
• Social Networking Sites
– Bounded communities

9. Key Point #3
Social media strategies
start with a strategy, not
with a Facebook page

10. Social Media Strategy
• Tools are only useful if you know
– what you want to do
– what tools will get the job done.
• Online networks are like offline ones
– People use Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and LinkedIn to
meet people, share resources and connect with
colleagues

11. Key Point #4
Social media are are not a
waste of time unless you
allow them to be

12. Social Media: Total Time Suck?
• Social media networks are not a waste of time
unless you allow them to be
• Networking opportunities
• Great way to build social capital
• Be very clear on WHY you’re doing it and the
outcomes you want to see

13. Key Point #5
You need a mission
statement

14. Mission Statement:
Questions to Answer
• Why am I on social networks and what will I use
them for?
• How do I want to build my personal or
organizational brand using social media?
• What outcomes do I want to see from my time?
• How does social media fit into my overall
strategy?

15. Mission Statement:
Types of Goals
• Promote your business or practice
• Promote your brand
• Promote a cause or organization
• Build a community around issues important to
you
• Provide information based on your area of
expertise

16. Mission Statement:
Your Social Media Compass
Example:
I use social networks to share my perspective, knowledge and expertise,
connect with and learn from other professionals, and to build my
personal brand to expand my business opportunities.
By using social media, I want to increase blog traffic, consulting and
speaking opportunities, create a market for future book sales, and recruit
for the academic programs where I teach.
To achieve this, I create and build my personal brand online by being
honest, authentic, responsive and by making sure that anything I write,
say or do publicly is consistent with my professional interests and
personal values.

17. Key Point #6
Creating a social media
policy

18. Social Media Policy: Why?
• Writing out a social media policy is important
because:
– It forces you to think it all the way through
– It allows you to articulate your policies to your clients
– It provides a blueprint to evaluate future choices and
decisions

19. Social Media Policy: Examine Boundaries
• What information is public, what should
be kept private
• What are the rules for researching
customers, clients and co-workers
• How you can be contacted and when
• What information is appropriate for clients
and co-workers to share with you
• How you will handle clients and co-
workers finding out stuff about you

20. Key Point #7
Choose your tools carefully

21. Choosing Social Media Tools
• Know what they do
– Privacy
– Access
– Time requirements
– Technical facility
• Evaluate tools against your social media policy
• Make sure you can maintain them in a way that
supports your goals

22. Sample Evaluation Grid
Completel Mostly Mostly
Access Control Potential
y Public public private
Website x
Blog x
Twitter x x
LinkedIn x x
Facebook x x x
Flickr x x x
Pinterest x
Professional sites (i.e. faculty
x
profiles, company profiles)
Curation tools (Scoop, paper.li) x
Google+ x

23. Key Point #8
Connect your tools so they
feed each other

26. Key Point #9
Build relationships

27. Key Point #10
Think before you speak

29. So Many Tools, So Little Time
• Social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn
• Blog accounts like Blogger, WordPress, Tumblr, Posterous
• Microblogging sites, like Twitter,
• Bookmarking accounts like Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon
• Curation accounts, like Scoop it! Pinterest
• Photo sharing, like Flickr
• Community creation like Ning.com
• Presentation sharing, like SlideShare
• Video platforms like Blip.tv, YouTube, Vimeo, and Viddler
• Audio platforms like BlogTalkRadio.com

30. When Does a Facebook Page Make Sense?

31. Displaying Expertise Relevant to Platform

37. Conclusion
• Social media tools allow you to build an effective
online presence in multiple ways if you:
– Create a social media mission statement
– Design your strategy and goals
– Pick your tools based on what they can do to support
your strategy
– Be honest, consistent and engage (but don’t lecture)
– Have fun

38. THANK YOU
FOR QUESTIONS OR COPIES OF
THIS PRESENTATION:
Pamela Rutledge, PhD, MBA
Director, Media Psychology Research Center
prutledge@mprcenter.org
@pamelarutledge