Social Media is a Party! But What Happens on Facebook Does Not Stay on Facebook

Partying, life lessons, and more from one of Metro Detroit's premiere social media events.

Last night,

held an event in Metro Detroit (at Rosie O'Grady's in Ferndale, to be exact) in celebration of all things social media. The event, which included a panel on “The Future of Media,” was hosted by WXYZ-TV Channel 7 news anchor and multimedia journalist Stephen Clark. Clark is a longtime supporter of social media. He famously started the

hashtag and occasionally likes to

about their lack of social media knowhow. Jason Raznick, the President and co-founder of Benzinga, was among the five panelists. “I've been using social media for a while now,” said Raznick, who began using Twitter and Facebook to build up his personal brand. “What we use Twitter for at Benzinga is market intelligence.” That, however, is just one of the many areas in which social media is being utilized. “I personally use social media to interact with listeners and [to] kind of promote the station,” said Gillian Reilly, an on-air personality at 106.7 The Beat. “We use social media to tell you about the news [and] to

about the news – what's going on in your neighborhood, in your life, in whatever community that may be,” said Seth Myers, Director of New Media at WXYZ-TV. The panel also included Nicole Bonneville, a career services advisor at Specs Howard School, and Buck Head, the Social Media Marketing Director at CBS Radio.

When asked about their respective companies' social media policies, Myers said that the best way to describe WXYZ's policy is to “be yourself and talk to people” in a way that you would “normally talk to people if you met them in a place like this.” “If you were sitting around a table with a bunch of people, we want you to use that same voice,” he said. “Our social media policy is that there really isn't a policy,” said Raznick. “We want people to be able to be different on there. We want them to be unique and be memorable. So when you're reading tweets from staff from our company, you're looking for something that's unique.” Raznick added that there is a policy in the sense that no one at Benzinga will ever use social media to attack an individual. “There aren't going to be any flame wars or anything like that,” he said. When used properly, however, Raznick said that social media can be one of the “best sources for reaching out to potential interviewees.” “So we really try to add value to every single tweet and comment we make,” Raznick continued. “It's a circle, basically; if we add value to others, they're going to come back and add value to us.” To stay safe (and, most importantly, to protect your current or future career), Bonneville recommends that her students behave professionally in any scenario – especially on Facebook and Twitter. “Act like you're interviewing for a job every day,” she advised. “Basically, customize your privacy settings. Make sure you aren't saying anything bad about a company you may want to work for. Always put yourself out there as somebody who is professional and [as somebody who] would be a good representative of a company.”

As one of the fastest growing companies in news media, Benzinga is actively seeking new programmers, writers, and interns, as well as specialists within the fields of marketing, sales, and business development. (Visit

for more information.) But while most companies spend a fortune on traditional recruiting methods, Raznick said that he has learned that this is another area where social media frequently perseveres. “If you're looking for a job and you want to work at Channel 7, historically you'd send your resume through a career site,” said Raznick. “A better way is to use Twitter. We actually posted a job on Twitter and we had an ad on Monster.com

. We paid $450 for that ad. On Twitter, we got two resumes. On Monster, maybe 20. But those two people using social media were so much more qualified. It was unbelievable!”

If you want each of your followers to feel important, Reilly recommends that you respond to as many tweets as possible. “A lot of people just post things and let it go,” she said. “There could be lots of comments and then all of a sudden it dies. People don't feel like you're interacting with them, ‘cause you're not. What you need to do is show them who you are and understand that you need to respond to people, and that's what they'll respond to as well.”

Do you like to party? Do you like to share your carefree times with as many people as possible? If so, then heed the words of Buck Head. “There are consequences,” Head warned. “What happens in social media doesn't stay in social media. It lives on forever – it's not like Vegas.” Hoping to usher in an era of change, CBS Radio is in the process of starting a new conference dedicated to educating parents on the dangers of social media. “That's one thing these kids don't understand,” he said. “[They] are posting photos of themselves and their friends. In five to ten years, they're going to try to get a job, and that stuff is still going to be there somewhere. It's still going to be traceable.” Bonneville concurred, saying “You stole my answer!” “We had a student who had an interview lined up for a job in Detroit – a paid position,” Bonneville continued. “She had a picture of herself smoking pot on Facebook. They saw it before she even had the interview and they cancelled it. There's nothing you can do – you can't go back from that.” But that's not all there is to proper social media etiquette. “I want to be, and a lot of us want to be, the first to inform people that something happens,” said Raznick. “For example, in the financial world….S&P downgraded the U.S. debt. I wanted to be the first one to get that out there. But sometimes I'm not gonna have all the facts straight, and if I tweet it out too early, that's not good. You always want to be accurate. Speed is important but accuracy is key.” Finally, Clark shared two of his own experiences. “I think I had a horrible night at an Andiamo's once,” Clark told the crowd. “I posted [about it], and I didn't realize how fast the repercussions would be. I was irresponsible in not giving them a fair chance.” “Today I had a briefcase,” Clark continued, noting that the Fossil

briefcase was a birthday gift he received from his wife last year. “The strap broke, so she took it in to get it fixed. It was such a hassle. They said they'd send it out and maybe they'd be able to fix it, and maybe they won't. So I was very responsible and I said I was on the verge of a ‘Fossil Fail.' Within five minutes they got back to me on Twitter with an e-mail address to deal with this. So I thanked them publicly and said, ‘That's great customer service from Fossil.'” Clark urges people to be responsible when dealing with any company, “whether it's WXYZ or Andiamo's or whatever, give ‘em a fair shake.”

“It's unbelievable how much power is in the consumer,” Raznick added. “If you go to Best Buy

and they wrong you….you shouldn't [immediately] tweet and complain, ‘cause then they're not going to take care of you.” Finally, Clark joked that if you go the nice route and the company still ignores your complaint, “then you start failing them!”