What is a Social Media Policy?
This is a guest blog post by social media lawyer Malcolm Burrows:
What is a Social Media Policy?
A Social Media Policy (SMP) is a document that augments the contract of employment so as to be legally enforceable by an organisation on its employees. The aim of an SMP is to clearly communicate what is acceptable conduct on Social Networking Sites by an organisations employees and contractors and what conduct is unacceptable and would make an employee liable to dismissal.
An SMP is distinct from an organisations Social Media Strategy (SMS) which is a high level document that communicates how an organisation plans to participate in social media.
What risks can a SMP protect against?
By and large, the legal risks posed to organisations can be categorised into two parts, internal and external. An SMP can attempt to protect against the internal risks posed by those associated with the organisation.
The legal risk matrix of social media
An SMP can therefore address the following internal risks:
- Loss of confidential information;
- breach of copyright;
- Defamation;
- False statements and or misleading and deceptive conduct;
- The tort of Passing off;
- Organisation and industry specific risks posed by the organisations operating environment;
- Reputation risk;
- Statutory risks including:
- Breaches of the Privacy Act;
- Breaches of continuous disclosure obligations in the case of listed public companies;
- Discrimination.
The above risk matrix is by no means complete as many of the risks are not easily segregated and cross boundaries. A well considered SMP (and revised contracts of employment) should take these issues into consideration.
Is an SMP binding on an organisation’s staff?
The general rule is that an employer cannot regulate the afterhours conduct of its employees. That said, if the conduct complained of is referrable to the organisation, then a case can be made that it can. Therefore an SMP can be binding on an organisation’s staff provided that all reasonable attempts have been made to bring the SMP to their attention.
Drafting tips for SMP’s
Why your organisation should have an SMP
Whether you like it or not, statistics show that your organisations staff are particpating in social media.
If you would like to harness the benefits whilst controlling the risks, you need a well thought through SMP, otherwise it will be difficult to control the activities of staff that are on social sites regardless of whether or not they are engaged officially or not.
BA.,LL.B.,GDLP.,MQLS.
Practice Partner
Dundas Lawyers is one of a few legal practices with specialist expertise in Social Media Law. If your organisation needs assistance to protect itself against the risks of Social Networking, whilst getting the benefits, please contact me directly or follow me on Twitter @ITCorporateLaw.
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