Orange County Business Lawyers Discuss the Impact of Social Media on Your Business

April 19, 2016

Social Media: What It Can Do for Your Company – or Do to It

Social media today is so all-pervasive that employers might regard it as an immutable fact of life, like the weather. But that’s not entirely true, and employers using social media need to analyze their policies more carefully than many now do.
When properly handled, social media policies can protect sensitive competitive information, help prevent workplace evils like harassment or bias, and help present the company in the best possible light. But if mishandled, it can bring on plenty of problems, with your customers, the public, or a variety of government agencies.

At the outset, your company ought to think about what it wants to accomplish by developing policies on employees’ social media use. Specifically, ask yourself if your main purpose is the narrower one of preventing misuse of social media that might hurt your business, or the broader one of encouraging its use in ways that may help your company grow by developing a positive public profile.

Your social media policy should also spell out company controls — such as how postings on company social media sites are approved or monitored (not only original posts, but also any responses to comments posted on your sites by others). Further, it should clarify who owns the sites and material posted there, and establish procedures for reporting violations and penalties for social media-related misconduct.

As long as you do it properly, your social media policy can require employees not to post confidential business information, including but not limited to company trade secrets and intellectual property. Similarly, your policies can and should prohibit release of personally identifiable health information, and you may also want to rule out with a fairly high degree of specificity posts that deal with topics reflecting badly on your business.

Perhaps this seems almost a no-brainer. After all, what company would have social media outlets that release material that shouldn’t be disseminated, or turn into channels for attracting harmful publicity or government attention? Unfortunately, not all potential concerns are readily obvious.

Consider, for example, the potential consequences if material on your social media sites contains statements that could later figure in disputes or claims involving your company; you’ll want to make sure your advances reviews include company officials or advisors fully acquainted with those issues. Then recall that some government agencies, particularly the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), are particularly active in scrutinizing employers’ social media policies.

The NLRB has in recent years been on a campaign to discourage or take action against employer social media policies it regards as chilling employee rights, under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, to take concerted workplace action. Employers should note the NLRB’s attention is not limited to unionized workplaces, although disputes on social media policies and postings not infrequently figure in union organizing campaigns.

Because social media policies can reach so many federal and state legal issues — privacy, employee relations, intellectual property and more — a savvy company will ensure it has the advantage of expert guidance from experienced business attorneys.

Contact Our Skilled Orange County Business Lawyers Today

The skilled business lawyers at FitzGerald Yap Kreditor have been helping businesses and individuals in Orange County and throughout Southern California for over 30 years. If your business has questions or concerns on social media issues, call our experienced business lawyers at (949) 788-8900, for a confidential initial consultation.