Talk about serendipity.

Just as I was contemplating things like "how to let people at work use Social Media safely", Tel$tra come out with their very own version of what I was thinking about.

And, possibly surprisingly, at first glance it seems to make sense.

There is much goodness in letting employees be advocates for the good things their chosen organisations are doing (in my case Brisbane City Council), either "officially" or unofficially. People are proud of what they do, and they usually don't want to run their employer into the ground, any more than they want to run their country into the ground.

So let them talk about it. But set some reasonable guidelines. This protects you (the employer) and you (the employee) and at the same time lets both of you engage in the conversation.

And engaging in the conversation is what's important. Because it's happening whether you're there or not. And what you don't get involved in can hurt you.