Employee Social Media Use Policy

The centerpiece of your effort to curb social media abuses is to establish and consistently enforce a social networking policy that addresses these activities. Make sure your policy is realistic. Simply banning employees from using social networking sites or blogging altogether is impossible to enforce, especially to the extent it applies to what employees do off-duty. Here’s a Model Policy you can adapt.

1. PURPOSE

The purpose of this policy is to outline acceptable and unacceptable use of any computer equipment and other technology by all “employees” (as defined below) of XYZ Company (“XYZ”) as such use relates to blogs and/or social networking websites. These rules and restrictions herein are in place for the protection of XYZ and its employees, clients and customers.

2. SCOPE

2.1 Who This Policy Covers

This Policy applies to all permanent, probationary and temporary employees; contractors; consultants; and other workers at XYZ, collectively referred to as “employees.”

2.2 What This Policy Covers

For purposes of this Policy, “social networking” refers to online interactions with individuals of common interests via chat, messaging, video, file sharing, blogs, texting, Twitter messaging, email, discussion groups and other methods on external social networks, including but not limited to sites open to all web users such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo…