Protect Your Business by Giving Employees Rules for Social Media
Business use of social media tools (also known as "social networking tools") has taken off in recent years. Organizations of all types and sizes are reaching out to customers with blogs, podcasts, networking Web sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, and micro-blogging services like Twitter. These technologies are new and exciting, and present vast new opportunities for publicizing a brand. However, a business using any new technology assumes certain risks. Employees using them may let confidential information slip. They may post text, pictures or videos that embarrass the organization. Individuals outside the organization may make negative comments on the organization’s blog or Facebook page. To minimize these risks, every business using these technologies should develop social media use policies.
The first thing managers must decide is how they feel about social media — do they favor it for business use, consider it a personal pastime for employees to use only on their own time, or are they ambivalent about it? Management’s attitude toward these sites will shape the resulting policy. With that decided, there are several other issues managers must consider for the policy.
* What exactly does the business mean by the terms "social media" or "social networking"? Is it just Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter? Is it other blogging sites, such as Live Journal? Does it include blogs on newspaper and business news Web sites? What about business-related podcasts, including video podcasts? Before managers can set rules for using social media, they must decide what social media is.
* Should the organization permit employees to identify themselves as employees on these sites? Anything employees say or do will reflect on the organization. If they conduct themselves professionally, they will bring credit to the organization, but the reverse will happen if they post inappropriate material or get into arguments that amount to little more than trading insults. Even on personal blogs and Facebook pages, employees who identify their employers can reflect on them. Employers should consider asking employees to post disclaimers stating that their posts do not represent the company’s opinion.
* Should the organization permit employees to recommend other individuals? LinkedIn and other sites let members post recommendations of other members. If a member recommends a person, a company accepts that recommendation and has a bad experience, and the company interprets the member’s recommendation as coming from that member’s employer, the company may try to hold the employer legally liable. Employers must decide whether the risk is so great that they should prohibit employees from doing this.
* Protecting the names of the innocent. Employees may write about customers, partners and associates on company-approved blogs. Not everyone wants their name, problems, or purchases displayed on a blog for millions of people to see. The policy should require employees to leave other organizations and individuals anonymous unless they have permission to do otherwise.
* Protecting confidential information. Most employees have enough common sense not to post company confidential information in public forums, but they might have a false sense of security about exchanging it in private messages with other authorized individuals. Social networking sites are computer networks, and networks are always vulnerable to hacking. The policy should require employees to use other, more secure methods of communication for confidential topics.
* Priorities. Social media sites are terrific networking and marketing tools, but they can also be horrendous time sinks. Employees can easily and unintentionally get caught up in blog-writing or checking Twitter, with the result that their productivity slips. The policy should emphasize that employees are still responsible for completing their regular work.
* Consequences for violating the policy. To be fair, organizations must inform their employees of the rules and the consequences of breaking them. Setting and enforcing these consequences will show employees how serious the organization is about the policy.
Businesses can effectively use social media to reach new customers, communicate with old customers in new ways, and grow their brands. All organizations should seriously consider using some or all of these tools. With some common sense rules in place for employees, businesses can reap great rewards from these exciting new technologies.