Legal Social Media at Work

Social Media has become an integral part of many peoples’ lives. It’s everywhere we look. In our personal lives, it gives us the ability to communicate with our entire group of family and friends at any moment. However, most people include co-workers as friends in their social media accounts and for many people, social media use is not limited to personal time on personal devices. Its use has expanded to work time as well. This has caused a myriad of legal and security problems for organizations around the world.

Every piece of information shared or posted on social media profiles immediately leaves a permanent record and erasing this record is nearly impossible. The potential to violate employment laws, improperly release confidential information or for an organization’s reputation to be damaged is immense. It just takes one post to destroy a career or to cause a disastrous event for an organization.

And it’s easier than ever for a mistake to be made. A post made on a personal social media page has a wide reach. Literally, thousands of people have access to an average social media post. When employees are friends with co-workers an offensive post (even when sent on personal time and personal devices) could cause a workplace harassment incident. And an innocent, off-hand remark an employee makes about his or her company could be a release of confidential information. Make sure your employees are educated in legal and appropriate social media use.

Main Training Points:

• • Social Media posts are permanent

• • Social Media is not private

• • Harassment & Bullying

• • Confidential Information

• • Insider Trading

• • Trade Secrets

• • Overuse at Work

• • Copyrighted Materials

• • Defamation

• • The consequences of inappropriate posts