No Such Thing as Privacy

Some people learn it the hard way, others are wise ahead of their years. In the age of the Internet, there is no such thing as privacy.

It's tempting to think that with the right 'privacy settings' you can keep your content to yourself and your select contacts. But as each week passes we hear of another data-leak or another public figure found out as having said something horrific.

As PRs this should heavily influence the way we operate.

An internal memo, where many feel safe to speak freely, could be forwarded on to a journalist. Notes written on an contact's account, on your CRM, could be requested under a Freedom of Information Request. Your Social Media feed could be scrutinised for slip-ups, even if it is apparently locked.

So, as we PR in a world with increasing hostility to mistakes, whether genuine of otherwise, we need to wise up to how we communicate.

There are a number of easy changes you can make to the way that you work, which could save you a lot of embarrassment.

CONFIDENTIALITY

This one should be easy, but you would be surprised by the number of times you'll hear someone say "I shouldn't tell you this but..".

It's tempting, as a PR, to want to know all the information. But if someone starts with that sentence, cut them off. "Then don't tell me". This will set a culture of keeping things confidential, encouraging people to keep there mouths shut.

In the same vein, make sure you never have to use that phrase.

THE TABLOID TEST

Most of us know this one, but it's a simple reminder.

"What would this look like on the front of a tabloid paper?"

No matter your cause, no matter your intentions, someone will be against you. So ask yourself how something will look in the event that something you say, do or write ends up on the front page of a paper. Maybe you're OK with how it will look? But take time to think it over.

THE POWER OF THE PHONE

Gosh I love my phone. In fact, as a PR, I'd say it's my most powerful weapon.

If you call me, trying to extract a comment, I'll ask you to email me. Giving me time to choose my words carefully. If you call me, I may let the phone ring out and wait for a voicemail, where you will often reveal yourself and give me a chance to do my research.

Then there is the freedom to speak, as most members of the public don't record their phone calls.

Should you need to share confidential information internally, use the phone. If you are going to issue instructions for responding a particular way, and those instructions could look bad in public, use the phone.

I'd much rather call my spokesperson and say "The journalist is nasty, they are going to try sting you", than to put that on an email.

SOCIAL MEDIA RESTRAINT

Social media is the most dangerous of all the communication forms.

Much of it is discoverable on search engines and you have little control over who sees it. This includes the 'private messaging' functions.

Send me a Direct Message on Twitter, I can screenshot it and share it with the world. If I see an offensive post, take an image of it, and you delete the post.... tough. There is even a website that tracks every time a Member of Parliament deletes a Tweet, Politwoops.

I have a number of behaviours that I use to minimise the risk.

1) Try, try, try your hardest to watch your mouth. This applies online as much as it applies in any public space.

2) Learn to ignore. Completely random people will jump on your messages at random times. Don't let them draw you in. You can ignore them.

3) Clean your social media. On a regular basis I will trawl through my social looking for anything incriminating and remove it. Sure, people may already have logged it, but then you may get away with it. A tool like TweetDelete will erase all Tweets over a certain age. If you are not precious about that one tweet Boris Johnson replied to, about buses smelling of socks, then it's a great tool.

And yes, I told Boris that the London busses smelt of socks. Yes, he replied telling me that I meant "lovely freshly laundered socks". He was wrong, but I was chuffed.

So there you go. In a world of no privacy us PRs have to walk carefully and speak wisely. But it's doable. Many influential people manage to slip below the radar and go unnoticed. Those people will often miss their 5 minutes of fame, but they'll have a lifetime of good employment.

Photo by Apionid on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND