Goldman Sachs: You Can't Make Silk Out of a Sow's Ear

Goldman Sachs, you do not need a media manager.  Instead of trying to control others, control yourself.  You need more than a "positive online presence;"  you need an overhaul.

Here are some suggestions for changing your habits:

1.  Have a high ethical standard; i.e., forgo CDOs that bring havoc to investors; endeavour not to commit fraud;
2.  Be morally, rather than monetarily, persuasive; i.e., reduce salaries and give up bonuses especially when the bank does not make a profit;
3.  Be honest; admit your wrongdoing that led to the Great Recession; i.e., say you were wrong to vote against the mortgage market that you helped to bring down;
4.  Be empathetic; i.e., understand and sympathize with your fellow human beings, especially those on whom you foreclosed and used robo-signing forgery;
5.  Go back to your partnership roots; i.e., give up your access to Fed money and bailouts and stop being a bank holding company.

Those suggestions to becoming part of the conversation are just for starters. Other people may have ideas to add.

Goldman Looks to Hire Social Media Strategist
By William Alden - DealBook

Goldman Sachs may dominate financial markets, but there is one frontier it has not yet conquered: social media.

So the Wall Street firm that many on the Internet love to hate plans to hire a “social media community manager,” according to a posting on its Web site. The position involves overseeing the firm’s online communities and developing a “positive online presence.”

It is a presence that could use some rehabilitation. The firm’s Facebook page is littered with negative comments. A Twitter account under the Goldman Sachs name has yet to post a message.

Perhaps the most prominent online voice emanating from the Wall Street firm is a parody Twitter account, @GSElevator, that claims to post snippets of dialogue overheard at work, tending toward the profane.

Like its rivals on Wall Street, Goldman Sachs has kept social media at arm’s length. The firm bars staff members from accessing major social media sites at work, and it has been known to crack down on employees who share too much online. Although Goldman is one of the investment banks leading the giant Facebook I.P.O., technically its workers are not allowed to browse the social networking site.

Even firms that have given employees partial access to social media, like Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, tightly control postings. This is partially because of regulations governing communication, which require firms to archive and monitor messages.

But now, Goldman wants to be part of the online conversation.

Read the whole article here