Social Media Trends: Having a social media policy

Because social media is all the rage (and shows no sign of letting up), businesses are starting to develop social media usage guidelines for employees.  It might even be considered a social media trend to have a social media policy - it's certainly a good idea as an employer. While notions like being respectful and using discretion might sense like common sense, it never hurts to remind users of such behaviors, especially since the anonymity of the Internet can lull users into a false sense of security. And that can alone can make people do some strange things.

Developing a comprehensive social media policy can help better business in many ways. The overwhelming, fast-paced nature of social media is enough for any person, but, because social media is a cultural mainstay, it would not in any business's best interest to avoid it altogether. So, instead of banning or blocking social media sites, the trend in social media policies is to allow but curtail its use. The policies companies are coming up with are as varied as the work they do or services they provide, but if businesses are going to be at all strategic about how they participate in the raging world of social media, they'll need a social media engagement policy.

Employees - no doubt people in general - have a hard time knowing what is "private" in terms of the Internet anymore, let alone business matters. By now, most users are used to airing concerns and frustrations that seem "merely" personal over Facebook or Twitter. But blogs and microblogs are accessible to the entire world, and businesses are really cracking down on just what employees can use even their personal accounts on Twitter and Facebok for: after all, you never know when you might be turning off a potential customer to your business.

Even email now seems "secure" to some of the social media site offerings these days.  An email - supposedly - only goes out to one person. Anyone could read a Twitter post or Facebook status update. The social media world is largely responsible for the fact that people now no longer have even a clue about who could be reading what they post on any social media site. And businesses are taking that seriously. It is probably best to assume two things: 1) privacy settings don't work nearly as well as we'd like them to (in fact, it may be best, in terms of business policy, to assume they don't work at all) and 2) People are paying attention to and using social media as informational sources for their consumer needs.

Therefore, it's best not to duck out of the social media world completely. Follow the social media trend of getting involved, create an online (social media) presence. But also, but overly cautious when allowing employees to engage in social media, especially if you choose not to monitor their social media posts.

Photo credit: mkokc