Is your management trying to figure out how to control employee use of social media on and possibly off the job? Does management view it as a liability or is it seen as an opportunity?

The use of social media may include blogging, participating in social and professional networking and community sites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

To what extent are employees encouraged to visit and engage in social media while on the job? Do you limit what can be said about the company? How do you monitor it? What are the consequences? Are you taking the best approach?

These are all good questions to ask and form the basis for developing a sound strategy to handing social media because it is not going to go away any time soon.

Employer Liability

Let’s start with the basics. Fear in organizations stems from potential liability. Management teams want to manage risk tightly. Sometimes, the tighter we manage develops into more problems. The basis of this fear is in the employer-employee relationship.

From a legal perspective, the employer and employee relationship is called an agency. There are two roles: the employer is called the principle and the employee is called the agent.

Employer liability falls under the common law of respondeat superior (Latin for “let the master answer”) which assumes that the principle controls the agent’s behavior; providing the basis for establishing the assumption of responsibility for actions.

There are some limitations for what responsibilities employer must assume. If the employee has the authority to act on the employer’s behalf and is entrusted with their business, then a relationship exists. An employer typically has control over the employee’s work time or schedule, place of work and method of how work is being performed.

When in doubt, define when an employee is considered on the job and when the employee is on their own time. A key question to ask is: Was the employee involved in an activity related to the job?

Applying this definition can get a little fuzzy to the new realm of social media, which is why management may advocate risk avoidance in their decision making process.

Establishing a Social Media Policy

Which is better a social media philosophy or policy? By its very nature, a policy infers clear black and white boundaries.

Organizations who write policies that restrict social media often fail at enforcement. Uniform application of the policy is the cornerstone of any defense. Compliance is not satisfied by having a policy in place; it requires training and procedures to be written.

Policies can be written to discuss what activities are permissible and under what kind of situations. Often social media policies contain legal information outlining where responsibilities lie in the case of misuse.

Here are some examples of organizations that lean more on the policy approach:

Establishing Social Media Principles

A principle approach is more fluid and entrusts that employees will act appropriately aligning with organizational strategic intent.

The challenge with this approach is that many organizations do not operate from a principle based point of view and it can become confusing to employees if they are accustomed to seeing a policy format.

Creating principles requires management commitment and effort to clearly define the vision and intent around how social media is to be used effectively in the organization.

Employee training is essential in this approach. Interactive training establishes and validates that the company’s intent is aligned with the employee’s interpretation of intent. Absent that connection, there may be difficulty in managing a social media philosophy successfully.

Here are some examples of organizations who have taken this approach:

Business Consequences of Social Media

Organizations who severely limit employees in their social media efforts may experience back lash, especially when the activity does relate directly to the employee’s work.

A recent example of an employer whose policy stated employees could not use the company name in their LinkedIn profile caused uproar. While the company may have won the battle on LinkedIn, they lost the war when the grievance was aired among 1500+ local people on a significant interest group (SIG) on Yahoo.

The company now faces open exposure – being labeled as an employer that distrusts their employees. The effects of negative publicity will undoubtedly impact of their ability to sustain and recruit exceptional local talent.

It is not hard to manage social media. What is difficult is getting over the fear of the unknown and being clear about expectations. Companies who use social media as a competitive advantage and utilize interactive training and publish guides such as Kodak’s Social Media Tips will find employees more likely to advocate their products and services. The bonus is people want to work there because there is trust.