According to a 2009 Computer World survey, 69 percent of American businesses have not developed a social media policy.
Employees' posts on social networking sites can alienate customers, tarnish an organization's reputation, disclose confidential company information, infringe privacy rights, and become evidence against an organization in court. The course can be used to accompany the rollout of an organization's social media policy or as standalone training to heighten awareness.
This course alerts organizations to these risks and and provides relevant examples, including true-to-life stories. Explaining the need for a social media policy, it stresses how a typical Code of Conduct is inadequate to regulate online activity and how blocking websites at work is no longer enough. The program elaborates on specific issues that a formal social media policy must address and provides a blueprint for such a policy, citing general guidelines on:
- Content
- Scope and application
- Management and enforcement, and
- Consequences of violations
The program also advises that the policy should remind employees of the blurring line between personal affairs and business-related matters, i.e. that what employees post on social networking sites can affect the organization's image. It ends by listing safe online practices:
- Respect and online etiquette
- Accuracy of information
- Transparency
Set in a company cafeteria,
Social Media: Reduce the Risk explores these topics be re-enacting conversations between employees. The program follows their discussions as they explain the risks of social media, debate the importance of a policy, and exchange insights and opinions.
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