Social Media Policy Development

Organizations need to develop a clearly written, firmly communicated policy concerning all electronic communications.

Social media tools such as blogs, microblogs like Twitter, video, and social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook represent an emerging collaborative environment for customers and employee engagement. But organizations that use these tools must begin—or expand—their conversations with employees about keeping confidential information private.

The 2009 Electronic Business Communication Policies & Procedures survey from the American Manage-ment Association (AMA) and The ePolicy Institute underscores the issues involved. According to the survey of employees at 586 companies, 14 percent of employees admitted e-mailing confidential information, and another 14 percent said that outsiders have seen “eyes-only” corporate e-mail. Even worse, 6 percent have used e-mail to transmit confidential customer data.

Similarly, a 2009 Proofpoint survey of 220 e-mail decision-makers at large companies found that 34 percent reported that a loss of sensitive information had affected business. The same study found that 13 percent had investigated troublesome Twitter usage, and 15 percent had disciplined employees for unauthorized posting of videos on YouTube and similar sites.

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Source: baselinemag.com
By: Nick Wreden