From the personal and professional perspective, how do you balance your public and private lives? Here are a few tips:
• Decide what you are willing to share with the world about your life and what you are keeping to yourself. For example, some people talk about their children online and others not.
• Learn about and use the privacy settings on the social media websites. If you intermingle your personal and private worlds with one social media profile, be selective about what you post and who can view it. The technology on these websites allows you to limit who can view what.
• Carefully choose how you post your opinions. Free speech is definitely being tested in this cyber-jungle. Defamation of character (false statements about a person presented as facts intended to harm that person) is still illegal- and it travels like wildfire on our instantaneous global networks like Twitter. While defamation is a great big no-no, you do have the right to state your opinions. There are defamation cases being considered in the courts that will set some social media First Amendment interpretation precedents.
For your business, a Social Media Policy is a great tool to help protect your business and your employees. It is wise to realize that it is not realistic to ban text messaging, social networking and twittering at the office even though 72% of firms believe that employee’s behavior on social networking sites could endanger business security (Sophos Security Threat Report 2010). Why? 35% of adults now are online on their phones according to a recent Pew Survey (that number goes up to 93% of adults ages 18-29). Here are some questions to consider regarding your Social Media Policy:
• How does the use of social media affect employee productivity? In some instances, it may enhance it.
• Do you want employees accessing social media sites at work for either personal or business relations? Do you personally do it? The threat of malware is rising as the reason employers block Facebook on company computers. Is it better to craft reasonable guidelines and boost your security or keep employees off of their Facebook pages while at the office?
• What legal issues are in place regarding proper disclosure and/or advice in your business? Non-disclosure agreements go hand in hand with social media policies. What do you want to reveal about your company via Twitter and Facebook? What do you want to remain in-house? Do all your employees/contractors know that? Us lawyers will tell you that small print exists for a reason, and as a rule just doesn’t fit into 140 characters.
• What restrictions will employees have when interacting in the social media universe? Since they will be perceived as representative of your firm, do you feel comfortable with them in that role?
• What will the consequences be for violations? Are you willing to enforce them unilaterally?
• How will you train your staff and consultants on the use of your social media guidelines? If they are not made overtly aware of these policies and procedures then your staff may not know what is expected of them. The Privacy Gurus® suggest (and provide) a live half day training session along with your social media policies.
Like it or not, there is no way to put the social networking genie back in the bottle. The Privacy Guru® suggests you take the proactive approach because the stakes are high. Decide what you keep private and what you make public. Finding that balance between your professional, personal and private lives is part of what the beginning of this decade is about.
