We all know that transparency is one of the virtues of social media. But what happens when a company, actively engaged online with its customers and investors, reveals too much, possibly compromising its primary obligations to the public and federal regulators?

Yesterday, Social|Median CEO Jason Goldberg “decided to let [his] followers know on twitter that there might be an opportunity to invest.” Goldberg announced via Twitter Wednesday morning that Social|Median is “raising some more angel investment now. $25k - $100k/investor, up to $500k. Interested parties can contact me directly.”

Goldberg’s announcement set off a flurry of conversation and controversy. Michael Arrington on TechCrunch said the tweet “disregards 60 years of securities regulations” and violates numerous laws, but adds that enforcement is unlikely. Arrington is not a securities lawyer, but does have some experience in the world of start-up investment.

The discussion on FriendFeed and TechCrunch continues to grow. Goldberg deleted the tweet saying it “Wasn’t worth the TechCrunch headache.” The screenshot first captured by Michael Arrington is all
over the blogosphere.

Social|Median on Twitter

The idea that a communique like this could be “reversed” by deleting it, especially one broadcast via web 2.0, is probably a little naive. This is one of the issues the SEC — which recently relaxed the rules on financial reporting, allowing companies to post financial results to their web sites in lieu of more traditional and expensive reporting methods — will have to grapple with. It is unlikely, however, the SEC will allow “corporate do-overs” like deleting an already published message that the commission feels was in violation, though it may temper their prosecution of an offender.

Social|Median took a chance and used social media as a way to connect with potential investors, but may have overlooked its accountability to current investors and SEC regulators. Goldberg says he was using Twitter to reach his existing investor community, and that he was not making a public offering. Unfortunately, Twitter updates are visible to the public, so this strategy backfired, and as Goldberg commented, reactions to his announcement have been a “headache”.

When it comes to sensitive matters like investment and financial disclosure, how can you avoid your own social media headaches?

• Play By The Rules - Familiarize yourself with SEC financial
  disclosure regulations. A couple of resources for this are here and here
• Be Strategic - Your corporate social media strategy should include training and clearly stated policies on financial reporitng
• Social Media Isn’t a Get Out of Jail Free Card - Just because you’re on Twitter, Facebook or IM, don’t act as if the usual rules don’t apply
• Take Intelligent Risks - There are opportunities to take advantage of social media to court investors in some cases. This just wasn’t one of them

I’d love to hear your ideas on the role of social media in investor relations. This is a fast moving, interesting field and we definitely want to be current when SocialCorp publishes later this year.

Posted by Ghennipher this morning to the Social Corp blog

We love Twitter! Image credit: Hugh at GapingVoid.com

I’ve rounded up the Salt Lake City Twitter bunch for another Tweetup. Please join us for our second Salt Lake City Tweetup event tonight Wednesday, August 20 at 7:00 pm. We will gather at the Salt Lake City Roasting Company to enjoy some offline socializing and business networking.

More Details:

Address: 320 E. 400 S

How to Find Me: We’ll meet upstairs. I’ll be wearing a Google Dance tshirt

Agenda: Meet fellow Utah twitter users, share twitter experiences, have a great time.

If you have any trouble finding the Tweetup or any of the attendees, DM me on Twitter @ghennipher.

Hope to see you there tonight.

Traditionally, Utah has not been known as a frontrunner in terms of adopting the newest Internet Marketing strategies. However, one company stands out in the Social Media Marketing space, and it is the first company featured in my new weekly blog series Corporate Socializer of The Week.

Overstock.com
I just caught an article in Utah Business by Overstock.com’s PR Director Brian Watkins giving advice to Utah businesses about implementing social media in their marketing mix. He basically gave them the direction to start strategically and simple. However, Overstock.com implements a robust and successful social media marketing strategy. They’ve got a lively online community of customers who communicate with Overstock.com community leaders and each other.

I don’t know the evolution of Overstock.com’s social media strategy, but I’ve actually worked as a consultant to Overstock on a conversion project in the past, and I know they (under the leadership of CEO Patrick Byrne) are an innovative and smart company - despite the ups and downs most corporations face. Actually, with a CEO as involved in offline Social Activism as Patrick Byrne is, it makes sense his company would be equally involved socially online. Patrick’s drive to be connected in the community seems to have spilled over in his business philosophy. As a result, Overstock.com not only sells great products at great prices through the web site, but the company has devloped a community of devotees, much like Ebay has done with it’s communities.

Overstock.com is a great example of how social media marketing via communities works to boost sales and increase customer loyalty when companies allocate a reasonable budget and focused strategy to Social Media. Patrick Byrne has built a corporation which embraces social media and is the perfect blueprint for other companies serious about utilizing the strength of social media for their brand. I’d personally like to invite Overstock.com to enter the Corporate Socializers Program . This is a program for the Best of the Best in Social Media Marketing.  The most creative and innovative entrants will be listed in the Social Corps book as a case study.

Entry into the contest is open to corporations successfully utilizing social media in their PR/Marketing strategy. So corporate social media people: Corporate Socializers competiton entires due Sept. 15, check it out!

Today I’m joining the team at #T2Z on Twitter. They’re cleaning up their email inboxes and uncluttering their lives. I’ve got a short break between jobs so this is a perfect time for me to do some much needed email housekeeping. I’m setting up email filters, unsubscribing from numerous email lists, deleting literally thousands of old emails (yes thousands) and basically starting with a clean slate for my upcoming contracts with clients.

Depending on your involvement in social media, you can get completely pounded with friend messages, offers, and the like - in addition to everyday junk mail. Perhaps today is a good day for you to take the #T2Z challenge and declutter your inbox.

Social Media Marketing doesn’t have to be all business. What with the brand monitoring, customer service messaging, creation of user-generated content in blogs, wikis, micro-blogs, etc, constant customer connections, endless research and analysis…the social media marketing space might lead even the most die-hard Web 2.0 guru to getting burned out.

So take some time to laugh a little and refuel your Social Media mojo with some a viral social media video. You will laugh your arse off - no joke. Go ahead, it’s good for you.

Is your company one of the best corporate “socializers” on the internet? If you think so, enter it into the Corporate Socializers Program! The program is based on the upcoming book Social Corp, Social media goes corporate by Joel Postman, Principal of Socialized.

Why enter the Corporate Socializers competition? The competition is described as “a program designed to recognize communications professionals who have implemented innovative and effective corporate social media.” In this Wild West era of social media, recognizing companies who have implemented Best Practices in their Social Media marketing efforts is sorely needed, particularly when there’s investor and shareholder expectations to consider. Companies who have crossed those treacherous waters are encouraged to enter. Corporate communications as a whole benefits from good examples of how to manage social media marketing.

What do winners get? All accepted entries will get mentioned on the Social Corp blog, the official blog for the book. The companies with the best overall results will be mentioned in the Social Corp Book, due out by the end of the year from New Riders, an imprint of PeachPit Press.

How do I enter? Find out the rules and details at the Corporate Socializers Competition blog.

For corporations as a whole, the answer is ‘Not Likely’, since social media - right or wrong - has rendered businesses Radically Transparent. But for individual social media users, one Twitter broadcast site offers a way for users to unburden their soul and confess their secrets without fear of retribution, Post Secret style. 

SecretTweet.com allows anonymous posting of your deepest darkest secrets via Twitter. Here’s SecretTweet.com ’s description of their site. “Publish your Secrets to Twitter.com anonymously. Shhhh!”

A few minutes after arriving at the blog, I read secrets posted about cutting, dating disasters, marital affairs, political prejudice against a job applicant, etc. It’s a bit dark and depressing content-wise, but as voyeuristic as I felt watching the secrets scroll by, I found that I was also oddly captivated and had a hard time breaking away from the long list of secrets.

Now if only irrate customers would post their gripes anonymously, online reputation management might have a much smaller market.

What other anonymous posting sites have you found?