So if you’re one of them you may feel outrage over proposals the UK government has to enable the security services to snoop around our social media accounts to see what we’re up to. But if you think that’s bad, how about this?

It was written by Reg Braithwaite and has been described as the world’s best resignation letter. He began “Dear Mr President, Thank you very much for honouring me with the position of Director of Software Development” before explaining why his conscience was forcing him to resign.

His problem appears to have been a change in the Whitehouse’s social media policy which meant employees had to allow designated managers to access their social media accounts to vet them and ‘shoulder surf’ job interviewees while they were on Facebook or even log in on their behalf to snoop around.

It’s caused ructions and red faces in the US, not in the least because the letter was a spoof – though it was reported as fact by numerous other “news” websites who fell for it.

But why shouldn’t they have fallen for it? Alright, apart from a few clues such as the heading “I hereby (fictionally) resign” (a pretty big clue really), Mr Braithwaite was making a serious point. He believes this is the shape of things to come – and soon.

His views are shaped by a few recent developments which have seen employers asking employees and prospective employees for access to their social media accounts, prompting Facebook, among others, to publish statements on the matter denouncing the practice.

But is this practice so surprising? Anyone considering you for a job may already check out your profile online to see what you were up to last night or assess the company you keep.

Employers have always performed such character checks but now that some people willingly broadcast their most intimate details online, it’s a lot easier for them to delve a lot deeper.

And it is worth noting Mr Braithwaite’s resignation spoof in the US was produced before the controversy blew up over the UK government’s social media / security services proposal.

So perhaps, in these times of high unemployment, the acid test is; would you allow a potential employer access to you social media accounts if it meant they could give you a clean bill of health and offer you a job? Sadly, the answer for some will be “yes”.

Of course, as Braithwaite’s spoof demonstrates, a flurry of litigation based on human rights, employment and discrimination law may await employers who choose to go down this route.

But laws do change. It’s another good reason for everyone to be careful what they post to their social networks – even in the darkest, most intimate recesses. It may come back to haunt them.

Check out this revealing video of Rio Ferdinand extolling the virtues of media training and social media. Click

It shows how a man at the top of his profession sees both as an essential part of everyday life.

Business take note.

Awards

Ferdinand, like fellow Premier League stars such as Joey Barton, has taken to web format Twitter like Lionel Messi has to picking up World Footballer of the Year awards.

Yes, they use it for what you’d normally term as self-promotion – but more interestingly they also use it as a way of communicating as directly as possible with fans.

Ferdinand tells this BBC clip that the media is such an important element of football now that it’s important for young players to have an understanding of platforms such as Twitter.

Character

He says it’s a way of letting supporters see the real you rather than a character drawn by a journalist who may be chained to a desk.

He says that streams of post-match interviews can be easily bypassed by players wishing to tell their story of the game; they simply use their smartphone and its social media facilities.

However, the traditional media can’t be ignored and Ferdinand says he wishes he’d had suitable training to deal with that from his early days as a pro.

Help

He says: “When I was 18 and 19 years old I looked at the media as the Devil but it’s good to have strong relationships with people there because you might need to lean on someone in the  media to get help in certain situations.”

He said that young players needed to be “like sponges” when being offered good advice on new and traditional media – it would help them in the long term make the best of both worlds.

Photo: www.manutd.com

For someone with a 360 degree view of the web, Andrew Bruce Smith (pictured) shows no sign of becoming blinkered by new developments.

Indeed, the social media PR specialist seems to have the capacity to embrace new web tools just as Bob the Builder would make use of a trip to B&Q.

That meant good news for the delegates on the latest CIPR course in Cardiff.

Pivotal

Smith’s key message was that the fast-evolving pivotal issue for PR practitioners is how we become robust in the evaluation of social media use for our own businesses and for our clients.

A PR firm which doesn’t understand how to navigate social media, analyse and measure it is missing a crucial trick or two, he said.

Andrew’s hot tips included his preference for Google Analytics as a number-cruncher for social media metrics.

Better

Moreover, it’s getting better; it’s expected that soon Google Analytics will be applying economic values to social media activity.

And the key messages we should be getting over to clients or PR doubters?

Well, they include the fact that social media links are increasingly influential on Google rankings; they help get your website noticed.

Forever

Online PR lasts forever as search engines will pick up key words year after a post has first appeared, and both B2B and B2C businesses are increasingly understanding that digital marketing can generate leads and sales.

Andrew gave delgates a long list of online resources which can be used to plan and evaluate social media activity. I can’t wait to start using them.

His knowledge was impressive. If you get a chance to hear him speak, pop along.

More info

• CIPR Wales
• Andrew Bruce Smith’s blog

We already have a few ideas and I’m sure we’ll leverage what we can from this major event, just as we always do. But my answer to the most ambitious enquiries has been that sponsorship opportunities at the Olympic Games are way beyond the marketing budget of most businesses.

Think of your marketing budget and put a whole load of zeroes on the end of it. More than 100 years after they were first conceived, those five Olympic rings have become quite appropriate.

So far, I understand Seb Coe & Co have raised £670 million in sponsorship. But with such sums involved they are understandably concerned about “ambush marketing” ie non-sponsors latching on to the event as a marketing platform without paying the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) a penny.

But there are still plenty of ways in to the Olympics for businesses which are perfectly legal and above board, especially through social media, though not as many as there were thanks to Locog’s attempts to close some of the doors.

Interestingly, a recent survey found the brand most associated with the Olympics is Nike, which deserves an extra pat on the back as they are not actually an official sponsor. Addidas, however, are. And guess how they feel about that, having paid a significant proportion of that overall sponsorship figure themselves.

And it’s these little local difficulties that Locog isworking hard to try and resolve.

So far it is reported to have come to agreement with social media platform Foursquare to stop non-sponsors from creating check-ins around the Olympic Park and now Twitter has agreed not to let non-sponsors buy promoted Twitter ads with games-related tags such as #London2012. They’ve also set strict rules for their army of volunteers in a bid to stop them circulating behind-the-scenes comments and pics on their own social networks.

However, they can do little to stop individuals or organisations tweeting as they please. And visitors to Olympic venues will inevitably send countless millions of pictures and posts with whatever content they wish to.

Ultimately, the best unofficial ideas and opportunities will doubtless result in some highly visible marketing and more than a little angst from the official sponsors. The rest will bob around in a vast social media sea of … well, Olympian proportions. But that won’t stop anyone enjoying the event.

Interesting article from Arianna Huffington of Huffington Post fame on the Guardian Media Network website about the media’s obsession with going viral while ignoring the substance of the message.

I dared to disagree with Arianna, “the Queen of Social Media”, (in times past I could have been beheaded for less) but only about the detail. In essence she’s right (NB this is not a grovel!).

The point is, reaching a massive audience is all well and good but too many people are doing it (or trying to do it) without having anything of substance to say when they do reach them. Just like the doctor in my cringeworthy intro, we’re ignoring the message far too often. But we’re quick to pat ourselves on the back when we do go viral.

Trending is undeniably trendy. But the old adage “Content is King” will always ring true and social media marketers as a whole do need to put more emphasis on the message and less on the size of the audience they reach. After all, you wouldn’t stand up at a networking event and say something totally banal in front of hundreds of people, would you?

A useful stance to adopt is to try thinking of social media as a tool. Now, what are you going to use it to achieve?

The much-talked about introduction of a Timeline has raised a lot of questions and divided opinion among users. But one thing’s for sure, it certainly offers businesses a chance to get their brand out there and engage customers more than ever before through this mainstay of social media.

However, all the talk about the Timeline has masked another new development which will interest many business people who crave a lesson – starting from the basics – in how they can use Facebook to market their businesses.

The Facebook Marketing Classroom offers a mixture of videos and worksheets on different topics and live online events – the first of which was held last week. Check it out. And if you’re interested the next live event is this Thursday at 5pm (GMT).

It’s taken the Facebook team a while to respond to criticism that they could do much more to help business people get the most out of their creation. But the recent spate of developments – especially in the commercial aspects of the site, such as sponsored stories (heard of them yet?) – has left too many people in the dark, so they decided it was time to do something.

And on the timeliness of this, note Google is also out there at the moment wooing the business community with their Juice Bars. It’s a bit early to call it a turf war but they both undoubtedly want YOU as a customer.

I think the Marketing Classroom is a pretty good start – but where will Zucks and Co take it from here? Really, if you look at the bigger picture, they’re just at the point of bashing a couple of flints together. The bright sparks still need to make a fire.

With so much being said about Welsh universities this year, it’s interesting to see how some of the learning crucibles are engaging with stakeholders via today’s most de rigueur communications mechanism.

Long-established bodies such as Cardiff University and Swansea University seem to have embraced Twitter with great care.

Newer institutions such as Cardiff Met and Swansea Met have gone at it in a slightly more chatty manner.

Energy

What all have in common is that they’re tackling Twitter with energy and with great positivity.

That is to be warmly applauded as the last thing they want now is to be left behind on the information super hard shoulder.

Here are a few typical examples of useful tweets from this small selection of Welsh uni’s.

Cardiff University @cardiffuni

Pioneering international partnership honoured: Times Higher Award for cancer research with China http://go.cf.ac.uk/ufqrLg

Nice link to full online story; shame there are no hashtags and @ addresses to create a more personal feel

Swansea University @SwanseaUni

Company acquisition a first for Swansea University @HumanandHealth http://tinyurl.com/ceng69w #healtheconomics #research #Education

Nice use of hashtags to link in with potentially relevant twittersphere conversations; nice link to web page detailing the whole story; nice @ username link to the uni’s human and health sciences dept which will, hopefully, produce a retweet.

Cardiff Met @UWIC

No Bus Service in Cardiff tomorrow (Includes UWIC Rider) due to industrial action across the city. Find out more… http://fb.me/1lBry6CHU

Excellent use of Twitter to keep staff and students abreast of non-uni occurrences that could impact upon them – a strike on Cardiff buses

Swansea Met @SwanseaMet

@SwanseaMet’s @DrCharlesSmith live on @BBCBreakfast in the morning, talking to @steph_mcgovan about the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement

Lively use of Twitter’s immediacy to plug an expert commentator’s forthcoming media appearance

The session came with a daunting title: Social Media Policies – the Traps for the Unwary.

But the message coming through loud and clear from university and legal social media presenters was: ”Use it … with care!”

Yes, there are catches with business using Twitter and Facebook, delegates were advised, but together social media is so influential that it must be embraced.

Fronted

The workshop, organised by Swansea University-based Software Alliance Wales, was fronted by intellectual property lawyer Nicola McNeely, of Capital Law.

Social media is hard to ignore in business, she opened: the UK is the world’s largest social media user with 78% of the population signed up.

Moreover, business can benefit from its flexibility, its possibilities for marketing and its usefulness in some processes.

Pitfalls

Pitfalls include “time theft” - Nicola said that British business is estimated to lose around £1.4bn a year through employees tapping away on social media when they could be working.

There’s also the threat of defamation of – and by – businesspeople; there’s cyber bullying and invasion of privacy.

Some lovely examples of social media positives and negatives were aired.

Conversation

Virgin Atlantic were found to be right to sack a small number of staff who had held a Facebook conversation about some passengers being chavs and some planes being hit by cockroaches.

Retweeting a libel can result in a law action – it’s not just limited to the original tweeter.

Unethical marketing includes false reviews posted by business acquaintances on sites dedicated to honest opinions.

Customers

Positive examples included Coca-Cola studying a Facebook page encouraging complaints about its products then turning it into something good by adopting it and using it to talk constructively with customers.

Starbucks and Dell are now among the major companies with a powerful policy in talking via social media channels.

Social media is clearly a complex, evolving landscape – and last night’s event at Swansea’s Village Hotel was timely and welcome. It was a succinct, well constructed and nicely considered session. Businesspeople there seemed to agree.

Photo Documents from last night’s Swansea social media workshop.

Software Alliance Wales Click

Owain Glyndwr might have had a mighty fine sword and John Charles the acclaim of Turin’s (and Leeds’) finest.

Daniel James penned the words to Calon Lan and Dylan Thomas, pictured in rather fetching sculpture form, gave us Fern Hill.

But none of them had Twitter.

Friends

So today’s Welsh heroes would seem to have it easy when it comes to keeping in touch with friends, supporters and those with a more passing interest in their activities.

Unfortunately, it also means they’re likely to be the subject of league tables – rather like the Western Mail Wales’ 50 Sexiest Men – which possess dubious usefulness.

So here’s my Wales Rugby Squad Top 10 Tweeters. Honourable mentions to those who didn’t quite make it … Adam Jones, Huw Bennett, Rhys Priestland and Alun Wyn Jones.

Mix

It’s based on my own unscientific mix of current activity rate, number of followers (as at last night), humour levels and interest-quotient.

You read it here first, but no tweeting during the semi-final, please – my phone will be off.

Wales Rugby Squad Top 10 Tweeters

1 @Scotty_Wills99 – 2,989, 27, 7/10, communicative & pictorial, “Tightest man in welsh rugby- @LloydWilliams_ “sorry I didn’t text u back mum, it costs me money!” #40penceatext”

2 @samwarburton_ – 8,646, 28, 6/10, chatty & serial replier, “Tough test match, bar of choc and bag of ice with @RyanBevington and dan lyds watching James bond in room!! Thanks for support back home!!”

3 @George_North – 12,072, 43, 5/10, busy & bright, “Just back in the room to find my roomy Ryan Jones admitting hes just watched 40 mins of netball.#tolazytofindthecontroller”

4 @Jamiehuwroberts – 30,041, 53, 5/10, lively & talkative, “”We’re far from home, it’s for the better…and what we dream, it’s all that matters, we’re on our way, united”..Swedish house mafia TUNE!!”

5 @LeighHalfpenny1 – 6,045, 19, 5/10, friendly & informative, “Had some great grub up the top of the sky tower tonight with @LloydWilliams_#candlelitdinnerfortwo”

6 @JonFoxDavies – 5,856, 43, 6/10, responsive & chipper, “The moment @kenctsowens paid for food. The most expensive katsu curry ever! #chinup #creditcardroulettehttp://lockerz.com/s/144024947″

7 @Paul_James1 – followers: 3,746, tweets this month: 4, humour mark: 9/10, in a nutshell: personal, leg-pulling, example: Fair play to @Huw_Bennett he’s got the worst taste of films ever.

8 @LloydWilliams_ – 3,058, 27, 5/10, short & sweet, “@George_North im sorry but I couldn’t bare being talked through @Scotty_Wills99 is hat-rick again over a coffee”

9 @ShaneWilliams11 – 28,814, 2, 3/10, cheerful & concise, “Big day ahead tomorrow! Can’t wait …..”

10 @kenctsowens – 2,220, 2, 4/10, Welshy & low-fi, “@carylparryjones fi a Scott Williams yn gwrando ar y sioe heno mas yn Auckland os siawns am shout out”

A new eating out place is rising from the remnants of a South Wales town’s proud docklands tradition.

And the famous faces behind Llanelli’s Sosban restaurant are putting together a clever little social media campaign.

A website is up and running – www.sosbanrestaurant.com - and, importantly, its key features include clear windows into the world of blogging, Twitter and Facebook.

Intention

The intention is to open for dinner at 6pm this Friday (July 15) and, after that, open for lunch seven days a week and dinner six evenings.

Excitement is being built online through the venue’s lively online channels.

Blog posts include Ten FAQs, Who’s behind Sosban and Who’s the Chef? The directors include rugby internationals Stephen Jones and Dwayne Peel, Scarlets sponsor Robert Williams, of WRW, and and Simon Wright, of Carmarthenshire’s fabulous Y Polyn restaurant.

Momentum

Sosban’s tweets began as far back as January and, in the past couple of weeks have gained momentum nicely.

They’ve included notices that jobs have been available and that sample menues have been made available on the website.

In return, the restaurant – in Llanelli’s hoistoric North Dock area – has attracted tweets from the likes of Scarlets big gun Rupert Moon, politician Nerys Evans and soccer’s John Hartson.

Chief

Converstations are being staged with the likes of former Plaid deputy leader Helen Mary Jones and Llanelli Star chief reporter Chantelle Rees.

The Facebook page, meanwhile, already has more than 400 “likes”,  comments from associated businesses such as Wales’ wonderful Otley Brewery.

This is a handy use of social media, building up conversations and relationships in a friendly, communicative manner.

It’s all looking shipshape for Friday. Good luck to all involved!