Does your company have a social media policy?

I recently wrote a blog post about this subject, which is entitled "Social Media Policies: Necessary but not Sufficient." It can be accessed via http://tiny.cc/SMinOrgsPolicyPost.

Unfortunately, I have to disagree with the "keep it simple" mantra of many early adopters. The mistakes made by both employers and employees in the past year alone indicate that common sense isn't nearly as common as some folks want to believe - and policies must be written to protect against the worst-case scenarios.

The post provides links to recent research on the adoption of social media policies, as well as to sample policies (including the one Lori provided). It goes on to offer a distinction between policies and guidelines, and identifies some of the legal issues that need to be considered with respect to both commercial and employment law. I also explain why creating a policy is only part of the overall effort, and I provide some high-level guidance for organizational leaders to move forward.

I've written extensively on the human capital implications of social media. A summary of the pieces I've written so far, along with links, can be accessed via http://tiny.cc/SMinOrgsHCMresources.

I'm happy to answer additional questions folks may have.

Courtney Hunt
Founder, Social Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs) Community
Principal, Renaissance Strategic Solutions

Do you mean a policy for the social media profiles of your company, or a policy on the usage of social media services by your employees?

A policy on the usage of social media services by your employees...

Yes. Ours is an addendum to our internet usage policy and contains 6 bullets. My suggestion is to keep this simple as you can't create a policy for every possible thing that could go wrong.