Social Media

As the use of social media becomes more commonplace, it’s important that your organization consider ways to guard its brand and reputation. At the same time, it’s also beneficial to recognize the relationship-building, community involvement, and potential organizational success that social media interaction can generate.

Often, social media policies differentiate between employees’ use of personal social media sites versus use of the organization’s social media sites. Consistent with this approach, the sample policies below provide guidelines for employees to follow when they use social media in both situations.

If your organization wants to implement a policy addressing employees’ personal social media use, you will want to consult with a local attorney. Unless an employee is a member of a protected class, employers are generally able to terminate at-will employees for off duty conduct such as social media posting. With that said, state or local law may impact your organization’s rights.

SAMPLE POLICY:
SOCIAL MEDIA

All [name of organization’s] policies, including, but not limited to, harassment, equal employment opportunity, and confidential information apply to the use of social media.

The term “social media” includes a wide variety of Web-based tools used to generate dialogue among a diverse group of individuals. Dialogue is generally public in nature, making participation trackable and offering users little privacy. You should be mindful that published content will be public for a long time.

This policy provides guidelines for you to follow when you use social media tools for [name of organization’s] use or your own use or in the event that you encounter situations in which [name of organization] is or becomes part of a social media dialogue.

Even though social media tools fluctuate, this policy applies to all forms of social media, those currently in use and those that become available as social media technology continues to evolve.

Organization Use

[Name of organization] participates in social media to communicate with others inside or outside the organization. While there may be times when you may be involved in social media dialogue in which the organization is mentioned, [name of organization’s] official social media participation is managed by [name of position or department]. Employees must contact [name of position or department] for approval prior to establishing a [name of organization] social media account. All individuals approved to maintain established [name of organization] social media accounts shall be required to attend training sessions required by [name of organization] and adhere to best practices and codes of conduct, as determined by [name of organization], in its sole discretion.

Personal Use

For your convenience and expediency, social media may be used for incidental, personal communication during company time. Good judgment should be used to limit the amount and frequency of such use. You are personally responsible for the content you publish online, including content published through social media sites or other forms of user generated media.

Social media communications should not be considered private. [Name of organization] may monitor and review access to communications transmitted and/or stored on the organization’s systems, including those involving social media postings. This may happen without notice and may include a content and usage review. System administrators may also access electronic messages during routine system maintenance and troubleshooting activities.

[Name of organization] may request that you avoid certain subjects in social media messages, withdraw specific posts from social media sites, and remove inappropriate comments.

Abuse of the organization’s social media policy in ways that violate the law or other organization policies is subject to review on a case-by-case basis. The result may include disciplinary action, loss of employment, and/or legal action.

Social Media Guidelines

1. Social media postings should not disclose internal, proprietary, or confidential organization information to third parties. You should always respect copyright, fair use, and financial disclosure laws. Refer to [Name of Confidential Information Policy].
    
2. You should show proper consideration for others’ privacy and for topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory. [Name of organization] expects you to conduct yourself in a manner appropriate to the organization’s workplace requirements. For example, employees should not express personal opinions that are maliciously false about [name of organization and key individuals you want this policy to apply to such as employees, leaders, etc.]. Additionally, social media postings should not threaten violence, be discriminatory, harassing or retaliatory, or similarly or unlawfully violate [name of Equal Employment Opportunity and Harassment Policies].
    
3. As you prepare casual social media content that relates to the organization, its people, or its products and services, you should identify yourself. When relevant, you should include your role at [name of organization] and make it clear that you are speaking for yourself, not officially for the organization.