Slack has introduced a new direct messaging feature that allows employees from different companies to communicate with one another. No problems there, right? The service is opt-in in that you need to approve anyone who tries to interfere with your work. Slack before his messages appear – thank god. But that’s not the only special feature of Slack’s “Connect DMs” that is worth noticing.
First and most obvious is that your company’s Slack administrators have complete control over whether or not you can use Connect-DMs at all. The option is completely grayed out to me in my Lifehacker Slack account, but I can see it is available in other company’s Slacks that I can access. If you can’t try them out for yourself, it is possible that your Slack overlords haven’t set them to or forbid on purpose from accessing it. (Go back to normal text messaging – which isn’t the worst as you can at least effectively block people you don’t want to talk to.)
Second, you should know that Slack administrators – really your company – hold incredible power over the content that is shared about your Slack company. You might think that a direct message is a private exchange between you and someone else from another company, made possible via this magical no man’s land between your two corporate environments. In fact, your chats are still tied to your company’s existing policies.
As David Pierce describes in it protocol Items:
“Each company controls its own messages, which essentially means that a shared channel is actually two separate areas that are brought together in the Slack user interface. Admins on both sides can destroy any of their messages without touching the other side’s. Slack also reviews most Connect-using organizations to make sure that tim@apple.com you are slacking with is real business. “
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Remember that if you quit your job or are fired / fired, your administrators do not need to save this message deletion step. Your company (or a fraudulent Slack admin) could decide that Slack’s DMs are totally fine at the moment, only to have that permission removed and your messages deleted at a later date.
If you have a conversation where the details are critical, you should periodically take a screenshot or copy / paste your chat elsewhere. Or take it by email. Don’t just assume that what’s okay one day will be okay forever – corporate life isn’t always that straightforward. And of course any changes to your company’s retention settings also affects your DMs.
Finally, and most importantly, you should know that anything you send on a Connect DM is not necessarily private. While Slack admins need to jump through some big hoops To get access to what people are saying in a company’s Slack – whether on public or private channels, internal DMs, or now Connect Direct messages – they can and will when they feel they need it.
A Connect DM may feel like it exists outside of your company’s “realm”, but it does not. Do not share information that would violate your company’s policies. You may not want to pass on anything that is not work related. You never know who will read it.
