Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY PROPOSAL 1

Social Media Policy Proposal

Ame Anargyros

AET562

November 7, 2016

Kathryn Cook
SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY PROPOSAL 2

Social Media Policy Proposal

Our organization is cutting edge, the management are leaders in their industry, and our

employees are top of their class in their area of expertise. Of course with all this power comes

responsibility and social media and the internet are no exception. Social media tools present

simultaneously opportunities and challenges for organizations. With social media, employees can

mobilize resources, implement, and test out new ideas quickly1, and with social media stands to

lose some of its traditional control over what IT initiatives and applications are being

implemented and used in the organization2. It is time as an organization to implement a social

media policy so that challenges both management and employees face can be managed with the

appropriate regulations. Together with the help of information technology (IT) professionals we

will design a set of guidelines to outline and follow so that employees know what is appropriate

to share, and how it effects their reputation within the company and with others.

Defining Boundaries of Social Media Guidelines

It is not our intention to be invasive members of the organization, for one, we believe our

employees conduct themselves with the utmost rectitude. We also know a considerable body of

business research indicates that employer invasiveness may lead to higher levels of employee

stress, lower levels of productivity, and worse employee health and morale3. Where social media

is concerned we are, however, required to protect the interest of the business.

U.S. law emphasizes that the workplace and its resources are the property of the employer. The

employer is generally free to dictate permissible use of company property as the employer sees

1 (Vaast & Kaganer, 2013)

2 (Vaast & Kaganer, 2013)
3 (Abril, Levin, & Del Riego, 2012)
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fit4. Courts generally hold that employees do not have privacy rights when using hardware

provided by the employer. Some employers have gone as far as to ask employees for social

media username and password information so they can take a look behind the scenes to learn

more about the employee5.

Of course legislation has since passed in several states that prohibits employers from asking for

password information and as an organization that prides ourselves for cohesiveness, we would

like to avoid these situations and consider the issues involved with internet usage, develop a plan

that fairly addresses the use of social media and the internet and protects the interest of the

company.

Recommendations

In order to compile a set of guidelines for social media use; our department, the IT

department, and upper management should come together to coordinate efforts. Our teams

should discuss why it is important to set these guidelines and, more importantly, develop a

training course to help employees understand what is considered appropriate and inappropriate

content, and how it can impact their personal and professional reputation.

Some considerations regarding why these guidelines are important from the perspective

of the employer are as follows. 1.Employers have compelling business reasons to pay attention to

current employees productivity, work performance, and possible security violations6. 2. An

4 (Abril, Levin, & Del Riego, 2012)

5 (Park, 2014)
6 (Park, 2014)
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employee is a representative of his or her organization in all areas of life7. Employees need to be

aware of the association between them and the information they published in social media8.

Just as we are working to secure the safety of our business our employees personal safety is also

an important consideration. In our guidelines, it should be stressed the importance of carefully

choosing their content that they wish to share online. In setting up a training program employees

can be taught the difference between appropriate choices and those that are likely to cause

backlash on the employee or the company. Often, if an employee posts content that is

inappropriate their reputation can be tarnished and sometime irreversible.

Fortunately, we have a staff of personnel in the IT department that, if asked, would be

able to work together with upper management and our group to develop a training program that

our employees can take. Giving the employees the knowledge of expectation for online usage

and internet submissions, will enable them to make good decisions and ensure their reputation

and the reputation of our organization stay intact.

Conclusions

While it seems that our organization is running smoothly as is, the internet is fastly becoming the

preferred method of communication in this industry. Coordinating the efforts of upper

management, the IT department and this group to develop a set of guidelines for internet usage

along with a short training program for all employees of the appropriate choices in content

submissions will only enhance the already state of the art environment we have. I appreciate

your consideration with regards to the implantation of this idea and I look forward to speaking

7 (Park, 2014)
8 (Vaast & Kaganer, 2013)
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with you to arrange a time to meet in person or if you prefer to take advantage of our virtual

meeting space I would be happy to get that set up as well.

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References

Abril, P., Levin, A., & Del Riego, A. (2012, Spring). Blurred boundries: social media privacy

and the twenty first century employee. American Business Law Journal, 49(1), 63-124.

(Abril, Levin, & Del Riego, 2012).

Park, S. (2014), Employee Internet Privacy: A Proposed Act that Balances Legitimate Employer

Rights and Employee Privacy. Am Bus Law J, 51: 779841. doi:10.1111/ablj.12039

Vaast, E. and Kaganer, E. (2013), Social media affordances and governance in the workplace:

An examination of organizational policies. J Comput-Mediat Comm, 19: 78101.

doi:10.1111/jcc4.12032