I work for a small-ish software developement company, amongst other things, we run a few industry specific social networks(i.e. Building industry, Wellness industry etc.).
I am primarily a php developer, but am also responsible for maintainence of the database. I have recently been given the task of importing users, and creating profiles for them on one of our communities. The list was aquired from a reputable corporate, with interests in this community(The selling point for us is tools offered to communicate with this list using tools in the social network).
I am having a bit of a moral dilema. I know that I would not be happy if my details were added to a social network, even if I had consented to receiving email marketing(The details added are First name, Last name and email address). Even worse, is there is no way to delete the user account once it has been added. I believe what we should be doing with these lists, is sending out opt-in emails, encouraging people to join the network.
I have not spoken to my manager yet, as I am still somewhat of a junior and feel I would need to have some facts before I bring this up, which is why I am posting this here. I have done some searching on google, but this seems to be a whole new topic.
Yes, you opt-in e-mails sound like a good solution.
If I had given you my details for email marketing and you went and created a social community account for me, I would be bloody mad, and you can betcha I will never do business with you again.
Then again, that’s just my opinion. Other people might feel differently
I should think that depends on your country.
Here in the Netherlands the rules for e-mail have been sharpend a lot lately, meaning businesses can not send any advertising e-mail to any e-mail address without the receivers consent.
The “problem” here is I think that you obtained the details legally.
BTW, is the social network run by your company, or is it run by a third party?
If it is a third party, it sounds a little like selling details to me (even though you will enter the information, the social network will be using those details even though they never legally obtained them).
The social network is run by my company. We are a South African company(our laws are pretty slack on this matter).
Ultimately I don’t see this doing us any good. If the user would make use of this social network, then they would sign up themselves. The main reason I think they want to do this is to push up the number of registered users(for marketing purposes). But I feel this number is now being falsified because there are going to be a large number of inactive members.
Just be sure yuo get those emails from your site. You can send them emails to join your social profiles. Or better yet, email them about your company’s offers or give them constant newsletters.
