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The office water cooler goes virtual
Business risks and rewards of social networking Web sites
By Patricia L. Dye
How many of your employees currently have a personal page on Facebook.com or MySpace.com? Do they blog during working hours? Do they post references or remarks about your company? Can you control what is posted or blogged about your business? If you could, should you? Employers should be aware of the risk – and the benefits – of social networking Web sites.
Keeping up with technology is a constant race. Companies today are bombarded by the virtual world in the form of competitive practices, intellectual property theft, piracy and virus infiltration. The existing culture shift from offline to online media and from offline to online services will only continue to increase these challenges. However, as the challenges grow with increasing technology, the rewards are increasing as well.
The Good Thing Is, It’s Free!Some companies use social networking sites to promote their business. Social networking forums have a “community feel” – a gathering of like-minded individuals who share similar tastes and values. Some companies find target marketing by reaching the right ‘community’ virtually can build brand recognition quickly and at little or no expense. The same companies have also begun to monitor these same sites for consumer feedback. Salespeople have begun to use the virtual tool as a consumer forum for selling products and services and building more personal connections to the client.
Another use for social media sites is as a recruiting tool. Specialists within the same industry or profession tend to group or socialize collectively through virtual posting boards, meetings, blogs and other virtual forums. Recruiters have found these sites especially helpful when seeking college students for internships, recent graduates or when filling technology-related positions – as many IT professionals frequent these sites professionally as well as socially. Web sites such as LinkedIn.com and Plaxo.com are almost exclusively for the business-savvy networking professional.
Not All Fun and Games …Although networking and socializing via the Internet sounds like harmless fun, it can pose large problems for organizations. Communication via social media is ‘P2P’ or peer-to-peer, which means computers are more capable of sharing information. This is a good thing, right? Not necessarily. If the information is proprietary, contains harmful viruses or allows unauthorized personnel access to your system, then sharing is not a good thing. Large organizations spend millions of dollars each year on computer systems security to protect intellectual property and confidential data. As technology allows for greater ease in communication, it also allows more opportunity for the unlawful.
What can you do if confidential information is leaked by an employee via a social Web site? In a recent survey of 200 businesses posted by NetworkWorld.com, the majority stated they do not have policies that address social networking. Professional consultants in IT security and management recommend that companies should have policies that address social networking both during and outside of work. These policies should define the expected behavior, address the ethical considerations for the employee as a representative of the company, and relate to other company policies like confidentiality statements and intellectual property agreements.
But the legal responsibility of social media usage does not rest with employees alone. Businesses themselves can make serious errors when it comes to information found on social Web sites. Some companies use social networking sites as screening for potential hires.
Since more than just employment information is found on these sites, discrimination and data protection issues arise. An applicant’s date of birth or religious beliefs may be posted on the site which could impact, or be perceived to impact, a hiring decision. Using this information in a recruiting or hiring decision is grounds for a discrimination claim. Additionally, the Employment Practices Data Protection Code specifies that an employer should not “place reliance on information collected from possibly unreliable sources.” Since information on a social networking site can be posted from a respected professional, a disgruntled neighbor or anyone else, it would be extremely difficult to defend the use of such information for a hiring decision.
What Fits Your Business?Many employers have found great benefit for its employees in the use of social media, both during and outside of work. Some even use the social networking sites as venues for employee communication. On the other hand, other companies find these activities to be a high security risk and a drain on employee productivity. What should your business do?
Primarily, you must determine your business’ networking needs. If you choose to block social networking sites and put stringent restrictions on your employees, you may be risking a link to a larger customer base. Your company may also lose some appeal to the members of a growing talent pool. Conversely, if you open your business network to social media, then you accept possible legal liability, possible loss of productivity, and increased IT issues including use of bandwidth and the dangers of P2P.
Every company has a different networking need based on its product or service, size, culture, vision, available resources and goals. There is only one certainty about the business decision regarding the use of social media: once you have made this decision, expanding technology and staff duties is sure to create a new, and dynamic, layer to manage.
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