Embracing and Controlling Social Media in the Workplace Ten Rules Ethan Zelizer Human resources professionals know more today than they ever have. The sheer amount of knowledge to be had has grown exponentially in the last two decades. It started with the flurry of employment-related federal, state and local laws that changed the way we do business and manage our workforce. Through years of honing policies, procedures, handbooks and manuals, we developed a plethora of protocol aimed at keeping our workforce productively buing along while complying with those employment laws we all know and love. However, not all changes in policy result from changes in the law. Technology is taking center stage and invading all aspects of the workplace. Today, there are a host ETHAN ZELIZER is an attorney in Drinker, Biddle & Reath, LLP s Labor and Employment practice. When he is not counseling companies on all sorts of employment-related issues or defending them in single plaintiff and class cases around the country, he tweets about social media in the workplace at www.twitter. com/ethanzelizer. of real concerns resulting from new uses of technology that your typical Internet-use policy simply doesn t address. Don t believe me? Let s test my hypothesis out. What does your company policy say about the following situations: An employee starts a Facebook Group about working at your company that triggers an online rumor mill. One of your employees is feeling uncomfortable about the LinkedIn request she received from her manager but is worried about how she will be perceived if she doesn t accept it. An anonymous blogger has started writing about your company in a less than complimentary fashion; and One of your employees called in sick but tweeted later in the day about how much fun the beach was. If your company policies do not address those types of hypo- thetical situations, don t worry you re not alone. Many employers are not ready for the Web 2.0. What s that? According to Wikipedia (itself a social interaction tool), the term Web 2.0 is commonly associated with web development and web design which facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. 1 But, we just got comfortable with the Web 1.0. Well, it s a brand new world and your employees want access to it at home, on their mobile devices, and at work. Every company needs a Web 2.0 policy that adequately protects its reputation and its employees. This article walks you through what you need to know about drafting and implementing a social media policy for your workforce. Before we get to our policy, however, let s go over the typical social media tools used by your employees. 5
Facebook. Facebook allows users to put up and share content like photos, videos, notes, blogs, web links, and news stories (the social media function) but it is also an excellent example of a social networking site because users can link to other users or friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. 2 By far, Facebook is the most popular social networking tool in the wild. From 2008 to 2009, Facebook grew 228% to add 65.7 million new users. 3 Chances are, 75% of your workforce under the age of thirty-five are using Facebook. 4 MySpace. MySpace is a lot like Facebook a social networking tool that allows its users to create profiles, post content, and connect with other users or a cool new person. MySpace allows users to customize their user profile pages by entering HTML code into such areas as About Me, I d Like to Meet, and Interests. Videos and flash-based content can be included this way. Users also have the option to add music to their profile pages via MySpace Music, a service that allows bands to post songs for use on MySpace. 5 LinkedIn is a business oriented social networking website that focuses on professional networking. The purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. The people in the list are called Connections. Users can invite anyone (whether a site user or not) to become a connection. A user s list of connections can then be used to form a contact network consisting of their direct connections, the connections of each of their connections (termed second-degree connections ) and also the connections of second-degree connections (termed third-degree connections ). This can be used to gain an introduction to someone you wish to know through a mutual, trusted contact. In this way, LinkedIn is useful to find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended by someone in one s contact network. LinkedIn employs the gated-access approach, where contact with any professional requires either a preexisting relationship, or the intervention of a contact of theirs. This is intended to build trust among the service s users. 6 Blogger. Blogger is the most popular website for hosting blogs. Blog is a contraction of the term web log. A blog is an entry of commentary, a description of an event or events, a web link, graphics, or video posted on a website. Blog entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject, others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, websites, and other media related to its topic. Blogs embody the concept of social media because readers have the ability to interact and leave comments on the blog posts. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art, photographs, sketches, videos, music, and audio. The collective community of all blogs is known as the blogosphere. Discussions in the blogosphere have been used by the media as a gauge of public opinion on various issues because all blogs are seen as interconnected and socially networked. 7 Micro-blogging ( Twitter ). Micro-blogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts. Twitter is a micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author s profile page and delivered to the author s subscribers who are known as followers. Authors can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. 8 A recent study finds that Twitter will have over 18 million users by 2/1/2010. 9 As for the times of the day when the most Twitter activity happens: that would be between 11:00 3:00 (EST) / 8:00 noon (PST) (i.e., the work day). 10 Notably, all of these social networking tools work on mobile devices (cell phone, iphone, Blackberry, etc.). Indeed, more 6
than 50% of all social networking updates occur on mobile devices during work hours. 11 Perhaps more surprisingly, 15% of all social media updates in the workplace come from employer-provided Blackberries or similar mobile devices. 12 Okay, three more convincing statistics: (1) three out of four Americans use social media 13 ; (2) two thirds of the global Internet population visit social networks 14 ; and (3) visiting social media sites is now the fourth most popular online activity ahead of personal email. 15 Clearly, the Web 2.0 has infiltrated the workplace. Now, how do we regulate it? RULE 1. REGULATION OR PROHIBITION? The first rule is more of a fundamental consideration. Your company needs to make a decision. Will it forbid social media altogether or will it recognize its prevalence in and out of the workplace and regulate its use. For most employers, outright bans on social media makes sense. According to a survey of 1,400 chief information officers from U.S. companies with 100 or more employees, 54% of businesses have completely prohibited social networking sites in the workplace. 16 What s more, only 19% of those companies surveyed permit social media usage for business-purposes only and 16% for limited personal use, while just 10% allow employees full access to social networks. 17 There are, however, two serious issues you need to consider before jumping on the prohibition bandwagon. Enforcement: If your company has a policy that prohibits usage of Web 2.0 sites, be ready to enforce it consistently and across social, professional, and legally-protected classes (age, race, gender, national origin, religion, etc.). There is a growing recognition in the courts that Internet use is a term and condition of employment that can form a basis for discrimination, retaliation and various state law claims. Moreover, given an employee s ability to access and update social media sites on mobile devices, be ready to deal with social sneaking an employee s incognito use of social media on the job. Morale and Reputation: Many companies that have banned social media in the workplace have encountered morale issues especially with those employees under the age of forty. Most employees don t think they are doing anything wrong when they access social media websites at work. Rather, they consider it a use of their break time or lunch time or simply a quick way to update a friend or significant other about real life commitments without the need to pick up the phone. An outright ban on social media in the workplace may result in low morale, backlash or, in some cases, a mini-exodus of a company s younger, more computersavvy workforce. Your company s decision regarding whether an employee may access social media tools in the workplace may affect the way future candidates and current employees view you in the marketplace. Moreover, those same individuals may take it out on your company outside of work on message boards, blogs or through other informal social means. Whether it is fair or not, your decision regarding this issue may have a serious affect on your company s reputation. Undoubtedly, you have gathered that I favor regulated use of social media in the work place. In my experience, outright bans on social media cause Companies more harm than good and result in unintended consequences. Moreover, this wouldn t be much of an article if I advocated an outright ban. So, assuming you haven t stopped reading this, let s take a closer look at regulating social media. RULE 2. DEFINE SOCIAL MEDIA AND SOCIAL NETWORKING The first step to an effective social media and social networking policy is a clear and concise definition that informs your employees that their company knows what it is policing. Here is an example of an effective definition: For purposes of this policy, social media is the authoring, reading or contribution of /to blogs, wikis, social networks, virtual worlds, or any other kind of online social interaction. Whether you keep a blog, log into Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, MySpace or Facebook pages, or comment on online media stories this policy applies to you. RULE 3. MOTHERS AND NEWSPAPERS Companies have taken many different approaches to annunciating a golden rule for social networking. I like to start with two guiding principles: first, would you want your mother reading what you just posted; and second, would you feel comfortable seeing what you just wrote on the cover of the Wall Street Journal? If the answer is no to either of these questions, you are not in compliance with this Policy and you should 7
stop whatever it is you are doing. If the answer is yes to both of these questions, then further apply the following guidelines. RULE 4. THE EMPLOYEE IS RESPONSIBLE This is where an employer can really catch an employee s attention. The employee is responsible for what s/he posts. The employee is personally responsible for any of his/her online activity conducted with a company email address, and/or which can be traced back to the company s domain, and/ or which uses company assets. Employees should know that whether they mean to or not, the (EMPLOYER DOMAIN).com address attached to their name implies that they are acting on the company s behalf. Every policy should also include some version of the following: When using a business email address or business assets to engage in any social media or social networking activity (for example LinkedIn), all actions are public, and employees will be held fully responsible for any and all said activities. Finally, employees should be warned about social networking and social media and their employment generally. Assuming you are an employment at-will employer, it is fair to state something like the following: When outside the work place (whether it be on your home computer or with your personal e-mail address), you are still fully responsible for the content you post publicly. The company reserves the right to act on any publicly available content that may be considered material to the working relationship. The company reserves the right to determine what may or may not be material. Let s take a look at that last passage. I know we are getting into some tricky areas regarding free speech and the like; however, there are times in which the employer will be within its rights to act on personal social media posts because of the nature of the content. Your company needs to put the employee on notice and give itself some wiggle room. Here are some examples of where personal social media posts will likely trigger a company response: (1) evidence that an employee lied about something material to the job credentials, attendance, etc.; (2) evidence that an employee is dangerous to himself or others threats to others, suicidal tendencies; (3) evidence that an employee is engaging in harassment racially, sexually, etc.; and (4) evidence that the employee is bad-mouthing the company. In each situation, the employee is posting something that likely breaks the two golden rules I began with mothers and newspapers. Thus, it is easy to see why an employer would want to give itself plenty of discretion in determining what to act on and how. Note, however, that before acting on any of these types of posts, your company should consult an employment attorney. Most of these situations underscore major legal issues like discrimination (harassing posts), defamation (bad-mouthing the company), the Americans with Disabilities Act (evidence that the employee may be suffering from a protected condition) and many, many others. Like any employment-related issue, upfront sound legal advice is your best weapon against lawsuits. RULE 5. FOLLOW THE COMPANY S OTHER RULES There are likely plenty of other policies at your company that hit on this subject. Your company should make it clear that rules regarding conduct, respect and harassment should also apply to employee behavior within social networking and other public online spaces. RULE 6. FOLLOW THE VENUE S RULES One easy way to avoid unnecessary and unpleasant discourse is to follow the venue s rules. An employee who aggravates others on a social networking site may draw negative attention to you and your company. Employees should be advised to follow the terms and conditions of use that have been established by each venue used for your social networking activities. RULE 7. FOLLOW THE LAW It may go without saying but employees should be warned not to post any information or conduct any online activity that may violate applicable local, state or federal laws or regulations. RULE 8. RESPECT THE PRIVACY OF OTHERS Employees should not feel obliged to accept Facebook friend requests, LinkedIn connection requests or any other social networking invitation. Such a request may be unwanted, unpleasant or in some cases, a form of harassment. Employees should also respect the privacy and opinions of others. Therefore, it is a best practice not to invite co-workers 8
to social networking groups. If employees do have professional contacts within their social network, before sharing a comment, post, picture, or video through any type of social media or network, the employee should be advised to think twice or else risk offense. Again, this is a good place to mention that online social activity can result in real life employment problems. RULE 9. REFRAIN FROM POSTING RECOMMENDATIONS LinkedIn and other professionalminded sites allow users to post recommendations for members of their social network. Employees should be strongly discouraged from recommending or discussing another current or former employee. Besides the obvious issues relating to defamation, this type of seemingly innocuous post may be catastrophic to an employer s defense of a lawsuit by that employee. It is bad evidence if a fired employee claiming discrimination can point to a glowing informal review from a supervisor on LinkedIn or elsewhere. If the employer s defense is poor work performance, that recommendation in and of itself may provide the employee all the pretext s/he needs to withstand summary judgment (the ability to win a case on paper after discovery has completed but with- out having to incur the costs of a full-blown trial). RULE 10. NEVER SPEAK FOR THE COMPANY With few exceptions, employers do not want their employees speaking for the company. Employees should be told that they should not use the company s name in their identity (e.g. username, handle or screen name), nor should they speak as a representative of the company. If a media inquiry is generated, employees should be directed to refer the inquiry to the appropriate person. CLOSING THOUGHTS From both a logistical and legal perspective, social media is a juggernaut for employers. It s fluid, informal, uncontainable and sometimes anonymous. However, ignoring social media in the workplace may cause far more damage to your company than addressing it. Whether your company s first experience with the technology is through a lawsuit stemming from online harassment or learning that your company is taking a beating in the blogosphere based on comments from an anonymous insider, chances are somebody in your organization is going to ask why there wasn t a proactive policy on the books to possibly prevent the situation in the first place. Moreover, knowing how to use and regulate social media can make you a very valuable member of your organization. Take the time to learn what you can about the technology and develop your own ways to educate and regulate employees. Your business will thank you. n NOTES 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/web_2.0 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/facebook 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/facebook 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/facebook 5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/myspace 6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/linkedin 7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/blog (last visited on October 10, 2009). 8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/twitter (last visited on October 10, 2009). 9. http://www.emarketer.com/article. aspx?r=1007271 (last visited on October 11, 2009). 10. http://www.sysomos.com/insidetwitter/ (last visited on October 11, 2009). 11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/social_ networking (last visited on October 10, 2009). 12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/social_ networking (last visited on October 10, 2009). 13. FORRESTER, The Growth Of Social 14. FORRESTER, The Growth Of Social 15. FORRESTER, The Growth Of Social 16. http://www.wbjournal.com/news44683. html 17. http://www.wbjournal.com/news44683. html 9