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CCCA_V3No4_SocialMedia-FIN.qxd:CCCA_V1No1_DriversSeat-FIN.qxd 11/24/09 1:15 PM Page 28 Feature on Facebook orTwitter can “give a com- pany style, a personality that it wouldn’t have had before,” says Mat Wilcox, CEO of Wilcox Group, a public relations firm based in Toronto and Vancouver that consults companies on their social media presence. Priya Sanger, a senior counsel with Wells Fargo & Co. in San Francisco who advises the bank on strategy and opera- tional risk issues regarding its presence on social media platforms, agrees.The major U.S. bank has been a pioneer in adopting new technologies for communicating with its customers, and that tradition has continued with social media: It was the first U.S. bank with a blog and a presence on Facebook. “Social media channels can comple- ment existing channels [and] turn the coldness and anonymity of an online transaction into a warm experience. We know from our customers that having a Wells Fargo presence on Twitter human- izes the brand,” Sanger says. For Armonk, N.Y.-based technology firm IBM Corp., an early adopter of social media, having that presence is a way for the company to demonstrate to its clients and competitors that it’s on top of the newest trends in its field, says Jay Safer, general counsel and secretary with IBM Canada Ltd. in Markham, Ont. “The expectation is that a technology company realizes that social media is a game-changer. Participation is not only appropriate, [in fact] employees are actu- ally encouraged to be a part of it and use it for networking, exchanging ideas and educating themselves.” The high-tech company has a very lib- eral social media policy in which employees are encouraged to participate both on their own and as “IBMers, with Ja y Saf er Gene ral counse l and secretary the expectation that their behaviour will IB M Cana da Ltd. be no different than in any other method PAUL EEKHOFF Markham, Ontario of communication,” Safer adds. 28 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association WINTER 2009