Social media policy – do you have one?

Social Media policies are an interesting and necessary addition to digital governance.

I was in the middle of developing an upbeat two pages guide on how to use social media effectively, when I was asked by HR to support them in developing the overall social media policy for the university – this is a bit more serious and specifies what you can and cannot do and the disciplinary issues that can result from inappropriate use of social/professional media.

Does your organisation have a social media policy?

One of the biggest challenges is the variety of digital resource that exist, how easily it can be utilised, and where does a policy covering social media start and finish particularly given the blurred distinction between personal/corporate and who people represent when they communicate via social media? The issues are highlighted via  Academics behaving badly? Universities and online reputations blog – it  gives an overview of the challenges of controlling brands online and defining what is and what is not acceptable exploring the boundaries between expression of academic freedom and the obligation academics have to their institutions. It also provides a number of high-profile cases of academic trouble in cyberspace.