We’ve been watching something develop since yesterday. It’s fascinating in terms of what it demonstrates about social media, the “conversations” social media prompts and the apparently evocative topic of financial advisors and social networking.

Yesterday morning we came across a New Comm Biz blog post headlined “Company Forces Employee To Delete LinkedIn Profile.” It was about an email that blogger Tac Anderson said he received from a friend who cited FINRA’s social media guidance as the reason he was being forced to take down his LinkedIn profile. The friend is not identified as a financial advisor. Anderson, a Digital Consulting Director for the public relations firm Waggener Edstrom, asked another friend for comment and then concluded the post by asking if others were similarly affected.

As of this writing, close to 600 tweets have been distributed about this blog post, helped in large part by a tweet from social media celebrity @Chris Brogan and @BethHarte, MarketingProfs’ community manager. We sent out a tweet, too, although we had misgivings. We understand why Anderson declined to name the firm or his friend. Still, there’s still a little bit of journalist left in us to keep us from getting too worked up about an unattributed story.

Adding to our vague discomfort, although it is probably neither here nor there, was the copy above the link. As opposed to including the blog post headline, it was a promotion for Viagra.

Throughout yesterday, many people–including our followers familiar with FINRA and the issues as well as lots of others–hopped on this unsubstantiated story. Go to this bit.ly page to see how one tweet spread, including internationally. In their broadening of the story and FINRA’s reach, some of the tweets began to take on all the characteristics of the old-fashioned telephone game.

• @susioneill Financial sector tackle social media by trying to delete it-employees must delete Linked-in profiles http://bit.ly/cAzea6 (via@jamiehudson)
• @complianceweek Because of FINRA compliance!!! RT @ConversationAge: Company Forces Employee to Delete LinkedIn Profile http://ow.ly/15JML
• @kyleproctor For all you bankers/finance using SM, good read RT @ConversationAge: Company Forces Employee to Delete LinkedIn Profile http://ow.ly/15JML

We marvel at the reaction that the post has evoked. But we call your attention, too, to the comments, which are a great illustration of how social media mixes it all up. The discussion of registered representatives’ use of social networking sites is not a topic that will be confined to the industry itself or to industry insiders. At another time and off-line, well regarded compliance experts Mark Astarita and Doug Cornelius might not be compelled to get involved in this kind of conversation. Both of them have blogged about FINRA guidance on their own sites. But note how they seek to provide some context in the comments to the post.

By the way, the story is contrary to what we’ve heard from a few firms (nope, we’re not naming them either) since last week’s FINRA Webinar. The few that we’ve spoken to say, as a result of the FINRA guidance issued, that they’re starting to focus on the social networking sites, with LinkedIn as the first frontier.