WHY YOU NEED A SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
We came across this article recently about a recent Facebook Controversy involving Olympic athlete Tamsyn Lewis. The piece from The Advertiser by Scott Gullan says, "Australian team management has been forced to discipline Tamsyn Lewis over a Facebook rant attacking her non-selection in the 400m hurdles...New head coach Eric Hollingsworth, who introduced a new code of conduct when he was appointed at the start of the year, is believed to have had a heated discussion with Lewis about her criticism."
Whilst Social Media tools such as Facebook are great for getting a message, point-of-view etc across, it is important that in such a forum a company, club, school etc has a Social Media policy in place so that everyone involved understands, in black and white, what can and can't be said on such a site.
This kind of situation could easily happen in your business. If you have a Social Media Policy in place then everyone will understand what can and can't be said and issues like this will not arise. And if they do, the person(s) involved will know the consequences.
While it's easy to get started with Social Media, it's important to start with a policy. The policy should include a set of rules that governs how you and others will represent who you are and what you do.
A recent survey by Deloittes showed that more than half of companies surveyed have no Social Media Policy with also three quarters agreeing that"it's easy to damage a company's reputation on Social Media" (Deloittes, 2009 Ethics & Workplace Survey, Opinion Research Co, May 2009).
That's why it is so important to set some boundaries for your staff. Instead of banning the use of Social Media altogether, use the tools to your advantage.
