Sean Reiser

I had some meetings yesterday with a firm who was looking for me to help them with their website. They told me they were having problems keeping tech employees, which initially surprised me because they seemed to be reasonable people until it took the left turn in this article. In the course of the discussions they asked about using Social Media to enhance their brand. I told them about some of my experiences with Social Media, discussed some products that can help them and how I could help implement some of these technologies so they could take part in the conversations about their products that exist on the web. After that a crazy conversation happened:

Potential Client (PC) : "How does that work?"

Me: "You'd identify some folks in your organization who can speak well about your services and we'd start to train them in the tools. Then they'd got online and engage in the conversation as representatives of your firm."

PC: "That won't work, none of our employes are allowed on the internet except the owner."

Me: "I can understand that you don't want your staff on the net, but if you're looking for representation on the web you'll obviously need someone doing the representing"

PC: "We were thinking of something more automated"

Me: "I don't understand"

PC: "Couldn't you write a program that searches sites for our company's and products' names and reply asking them to email us?"

Me: "That would generally be a bad idea. Folks who use these services would find it distasteful to have bots replying to them. "

PC: "It's our policy, no one has access to the internet period"

At this moment, a light went off in my head.

Me: "That would include me?"

PC: "Yes"

Me: "So how would I work on your site then"

PC: "You'd give the files you need uploaded to the owner, he uploads them. If you need to see the site you'd go to his office and he'll load whatever you need"

At the end of the day, I'm not getting this job as they don't think I'm a fit (which is OK). I do have some thoughts on the subject.

Borrowing from the Cluetrain Manifesto, "Markets are conversations". If people see you driving the conversation back behind the wall where people can't watch and participate, they assume you're up to no good. I'm not saying you "must be using social media". There are no middle grounds in social media, you need to be firm, you're in or out.

When it comes to me having access, it's vital that developers have access to the internet. On more then one occasion, I've saved time by getting documentation, code, or debugging information by using the web. When you see a new error code or situation google is often a quick way to understand what's going on. There's a reason Google Is Your Friend is such a popular meme in development circles. I think I see why they were having issues keeping tech guys.

Additionally I'm concerned that they've set up an environment where people need to go into the owner's office to get to the internet. Does this mean that the owner of this firm is involved every time someone is ordering paper from Staples? Does the owner of this firm manage any corporate travel the same way?