Companies slow to create social media rules

From: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100802/BIZ04/8020349/1001/Companies-slow-to-create-social-media-rules


Companies beware: Employees aren't the only ones who should worry about a social media backlash.

Studies show that creating social media policies for employees helps companies prevent problems, but most firms would rather ignore the issue.

"I think it's hard to avoid," said Dean Pacific, a labor employment lawyer for Warner Norcross & Judd in Grand Rapids.

"I can't imagine telling anyone, 'Just completely stay away from social media. Pretend like it's not there.'"

But that's exactly what many companies are doing.

A Manpower survey of 34,400 companies worldwide found that 20 percent have a social media policy. Experts say ignoring the problem will only make it worse.

Instead, Pacific encourages companies to craft a social media policy that applies to both employees and management.

"We're still as a society trying to figure out what the limits and the boundaries are," said Michael Fertik, CEO and founder of ReputationDefender, a worldwide online reputation management and privacy company based in Redwood City, Calif.

"I don't think it's established yet because the technology's moving a lot faster than the law is."

Most companies with a social media policy reserve the right to monitor employee activity on work computers. Nothing workers write -- on e-mail, Facebook, Twitter or any other social network -- is private.

Some companies take it a step further by blocking social media sites on work computers.

ScanSafe, an online security company that provides a website blocking service to thousands of global corporations, found that 76 percent of its clients block social media sites. These companies place a greater focus on hiding sites like Facebook and YouTube than online shopping, weapons and alcohol.

"They view it similar to pornographic or gambling or shopping sites," Pacific said. "The big concern is that they're time wasters -- they're productivity busters."

Ford Motor Co. is among the businesses that realizes it can't prevent employees from using social media. So, the Dearborn automaker asks workers to explain that the views expressed are their personal opinions -- not those of the company.

"We're not authorizing an employee to be a spokesperson," said Scott Monty, who manages Ford's social media programs. "We want to make it clear that if they choose, they can talk about Ford, but they have to do so from a personal perspective."

Most companies also forbid employees from sharing trade secrets.

Pacific said many leaks are inadvertent. Employees who leave a company and are looking for new jobs might mention on their LinkedIn resumes that they were responsible for "$190 million in sales." Others who are still with the company might use Facebook to tout a cool product they are developing.

"It may not be bad intentions at all -- and it probably isn't -- but it can lead to harm to the company if this confidential information gets out there," Pacific said.

Other times the information that gets leaked isn't true at all. "But it still hurts the reputation of the company, because it looks real," Fertik said.

One of the biggest problems companies face are privacy violations. A growing number of employers check sites like Facebook and MySpace to screen job candidates, but experts say companies should be careful not to invade their privacy.

"Just on the very first page, you're going to see their sex, date of birth, marital status and their religious views," Pacific said. Asking about a job candidate's age, marital status and religious views in an employment interview is illegal.

Bosses who spy on employees by sneaking onto their private profiles and digging through personal information could jeopardize the company's finances. And bitter candidates who discover they didn't get a job because of something on their profile might file a discrimination lawsuit.

So Pacific recommends companies take precautions by having one employee collect information from the site and another review the information.