All organisations should have a social media policy, both to give employees sound guidelines about how they should interact when using organisational social media accounts and outline potential disciplinary action should they breach these guidelines.
Photo Credit: Neerav Bhatt (Creative Commons)
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is a leader in the use of social media by organisations. It’s 4 Social Media Standards (PDF) is succinct enough to be read and followed by staff, while thoroughly covering the required issues.
Angus Macinnis, Senior Associate at DibbsBarker recently wrote about the potential legal ramifications of an organisation lacking a social media policy:
Any employers who were in doubt about the correct answer to the question, “Does my workplace need a social media policy?” should doubt no longer. In a decision handed down just before Christmas, Commissioner Roberts of Fair Work Australia reinstated an employee of Linfox who had been dismissed for material which the employee had posted on Facebook.
Commissioner Roberts noted that Linfox did not have a social media policy either at the time of the employee’s dismissal, or at the time of hearing. Instead, Linfox sought to rely on its induction training and handbook. The absence of a social media policy, Commissioner Roberts observed, was “not sufficient”