Well, that is certainly going to be my longest blog post title. But I feel that it’s true – if your organization has humans working for you, you need to have a written policy that outlines what is and what is not okay when it comes to social media and Facebook. The sooner you start putting pen to paper, the better.

It is clear that Facebook presents a challenge to organizations. The best solution to this challenge is to have a written policy that clearly outlines expectations for how Facebook and social media is to be used in the workplace, and how they as employees can best participate and represent the organization. Providing employees with the training and tools to do this can open up numerous opportunities, as I outlined in Part 4. The policy should be flexible, and it should be updated regularly as the environment changes, to respond to and adapt to any external or internal changes that may occur. This should be a living document. Don’t let it gather dust. The technology, accepted practices, and etiquette on social media sites changes almost monthly. Keeping up with these changes presents a challenge, but failing to do so can have a huge cost in lost opportunities to an organization.

Respect should be the foundation of any effective social media or Facebook policy. The guidelines for what is appropriate Facebook usage for personal interactions will be different in each organization. For some, such as a marketing or public relations firm, there is not going to be much separation between a person’s Facebook page and the business, and an employee may be encouraged to spend time on Facebook regularly throughout the day. For others, Facebook will not present such clear opportunities, and an employee would be expected to spend less time on the site. Allowing people to connect with their friends and family throughout the day on Facebook can demonstrate to the employee that you care about them as a person, and that their value does not begin and end with their production during the workday. Determining a reasonable expectation for usage will vary, and it would be best to include employees in the discussion to ask for their input on how to set the limit.

Creating a policy, rather than simply blocking access to any site, demonstrates a respect and trust that can lead to enthusiastic employees. Blocking websites addresses the symptoms of the underlying issue – that employees are spending time on the internet in lieu of performing work functions. It does not, however, address the underlying cause – that employees are unmotivated, unhappy, and/or apathetic. That’s a whole other ballgame.

Does your org have a written social media policy? What do you think of it? Is it effective?

(image via flickr/kristiand)