Intro

Twitter began as a fortunate fail for two Google employees, Evan Williams and Biz Stone.

Evans and Williams were attempting to launch Odeo, a podcast platform, when Apple beat them to the

punch introducing the world to Itunes podcasting, making Odeo trivial and unimpressive. Joined by an

Odeo employee, Jack Dorsey, Evans and Williams collaborated to found Twitter. Evans, Williams,

and Dorsey intended for Twitter to be a platform used for accessing information via bits and pieces

that are easily digestible so when they came across twitter, 'a short burst of inconsequential

information' and 'chirps from birds,’ they were sold on the name and agreed on a bird as the now

familiar logo. At its founding, Twitter existed as an SMS-based communications platform; cellular

phones only allowed 140 characters to be sent per text, which meant tweets were restricted to the same

rule. While Twitter’s popularity has grown it has held onto its 140 character limit per tweet keeping

information short and to-the-point.

Purpose and People - Kassidy

Twitter aims to connect people from all over the globe to live news, world happenings, sports,

entertainment, and everyday topics. Twitter’s mission is “To give everyone the power to create and

share ideas and information instantly, without barriers” (About Twitter, 2017). People from all over

the world login Twitter every day to express their viewpoint through individual tweets and shared

movements, such as #WeAreBetterTogether.

Twitter mirrors their platform mission in the workplace emphasizing #LoveWhereYouWork.

The workplace environment is built around innovation, experimentation, collaboration and passion.

Twitter's team is very diverse focusing on building the product, keeping twitter running, and

promoting the business. The diversity within Twitter's workplace culture creates an environment

where creative ideas and product decisions can flourish (Inclusion & Diversity, 2017).
Twitter for Human Resources and Employment Relations

The use of twitter has grown prevalent over the years. The HR/ER functions have been using it

for recruiting and culture assessment by micro-feedback analysis that gives management first hand

access to the minds of their internal and external customers.

Pros of using Twitter for HR

Twitter can be a very useful tool for HR functions because it is free, easy to use and highly

interactive. Twitter allows the use of the pound key (#) now known as hashtags used to find topics or

draw attention to a subject. The fact that the platform can be accessed through mobile, makes it

convenient for on the go usage and , plus turning now to be the new way of word of mouth recruiting.

Depending on the popularity of a recruiter's profile and how many people they are connected to job

ads can be shared with a wide pool of candidates, with the help of retweets prospective candidate and

recruiter may engage into a conversation that may end up in a job offer.

Cons of using Twitter for HR

Also known as a microblogging platform, twitter has a 140 characters limitation that

challenges its users to find concise ways to deliver their messages. With the volume of information

shared constantly, relevant tweets may be lost on the feeds of target pool along with the many other

accounts followed by them. Another limitation is that it only allows one direct message per user at a

time, making it impossible to send the same message to a large audience as we can easily do by

sending emails.

Legal and Policy - Nick

When using Twitter for HR, it is important to know first that job postings are legal

advertisements. Therefore, they must follow legal restrictions and EEOC wording this is also true
when using paid endorsements. This is because it is illegal not to clarify that an endorsement is paid

for on Twitter, as this is misleading for readers. In addition, the use of defamatory and discriminatory

comments on twitter can result in legal issues as well, particularly if the statements being made are

untrue. When a tweet is posted, it is then considered public property, meaning that everyone has access

to it. For this reason, a company must be aware and careful with the information they post as to not

disclose internal or confidential information. Further, it is necessary to be aware of other laws that

exist as well, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which was intended to “promote the accuracy,

fairness, and privacy of consumer information contained in the files of consumer reporting agencies,”

knowing this is important because, a company must comply with it if they use a third party to screen

social media.

Social Reactions - Debbie (United Case Study)

Social Reactions – A Case Study of United Airlines Leggings Controversy

On Sunday, March 16, 2017, three pre-teen and teenage girls were not allowed to board a

domestic United Airlines flight after a gate agent deemed that their attire did not meet the standards for

travelers on “company benefit travel”. Although these travelers do not work for UAL, they are

required to conform to a dress code policy due to the free or very low fare they pay for air travel as a

friend or family member of an UAL employee. Interestingly, the fervor which erupted was not from

the young girls or their family but from the tweet of a passenger from another flight, Shannon Watts.

Ms. Watts observed the situation and came to her own conclusion. She is also the founder of Moms

Demand Action, an organization to stop gun violence. As an avid Twitter user, Ms. Watts has many

followers. Her tweet was shared and commented on very quickly causing UAL to be on the offensive

as public opinion on the incident became more negative. Facts vs opinions became difficult to sort out.
This incident demonstrates the impact of social media on company policy. The company benefit travel

dress code policy was widely accepted prior to the incident. Few outside of those that benefitted from

the policy probably knew about the policy. However, a series of tweets by an observer caused the

policy to be heavily debated over the next week. At this point, UAL has not made any changes to the

policy. However, it is likely that many changes will come in the future to avoid the negative press this

incident received.

Summary - Raven

Today Twitter averages nearly 500 million tweets per day. Its presence is prominent and HR

departments are becoming increasingly more aware of Twitter’s utility in fulfilling HR functions. HR

departments can use Twitter to receive employee and consumer feedback and advertise various

training programs and other opportunities the company is offering. Additionally, HR departments can

better utilize Twitter by using it to interact with current employees encouraging them to retweet tweets

and share company news, which can showcase the company culture and interaction with the hope of

attracting potential talent. Before launching into the social media world, companies should have a

clear social media policy encouraging employees to make use of appropriate privacy settings where

relevant and communicating that employees’ personal use of social media that impacts the company

may result in disciplinary action including dismissal or rewards including promotion.

References

About Twitter. (2017). Retrieved April 19, 2017, from https://about.twitter.com/company

Inclusion & Diversity. (2017). Retrieved April 19, 2017, from

https://careers.twitter.com/en/diversity.html
Managing and Leveraging Workplace Use of Social Media (SHRM, 2017) Retrieved April 18, from

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/managingsocialmedia.aspx