Social media policy

Unlike those monsters under children's beds, there are very real and very frightening issues for employees and organizations interacting through social media. Let's line up some of the ugly and scary issues that have arisen in recent times:

• Companies have been sued for wrongful dismissal after firing workers making disparaging comments online about their employers

• Employees have inadvertently disclosed confidential commercial information to the whole world through actions on social networking sites

• Employees have disclosed private information about their clients to their Facebook connections

• Company Facebook pages have had supplier complaints posted that have spread through the social network to thousands of people before being picked up by media outlets

I encourage you to take a fresh look at your company's social media policy: does it clearly specify the rules and guidelines for your staff, does it align with your company values, is it brief and written in simple language...