The People Bulletin

A new survey has revealed some interesting trends in how organisations employ social media across their businesses, however the study also showed that a worrying proportion of businesses are not prepared to deal with the misuse of social media.

Trends

More than three quarters (76%) of businesses that responded to the study had a corporate social media presence, with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter proving to be the most popular platforms.

The reasons companies gave for using social media included:

• brand awareness (80%);
• marketing (60%);
• recruitment (42%);
• employee communication (39%);
• employee engagement (37%); and
• teamworking (28%).

The majority of employers (65%) actively encouraged the use of social media for work related activities.

Dangers

However, the survey also highlighted that whilst the majority of companies were embracing social media, very few were prepared for the potential consequences of its use. Despite 21% of organisations having to take action because of something that had been posted about another employee, and a further 31% having to act on information posted about the company, only 25% of businesses had a dedicated social media policy. In addition, only 43% had departmental policies working in tandem – for example an IT and HR policy.

Kate Hodgkiss, partner in DLA Piper's employment practice and author of the report said:

"The rise of social media in the early 2000s has more recently filtered through to the work environment and changed business attitudes to communication; with this new opportunity also comes new risk.

"Almost a third of our respondents have been forced to take action against employees because of information posted online about their organisation, and a fifth because of information posted about another individual. There is also widespread recognition that social media is not just a tool for marketing, but something that needs to be considered by all aspects of a business; from HR, to risk, to the upper echelons of corporate management.

"Our respondents recognised the benefits of social media to get their messages out to a wide audience, at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods and far more quickly. But businesses need to understand how to minimise the risks. The study highlights that many are failing to protect themselves against the legal ramifications, as social networking practices outpace business policies. The research highlights the growing need for a definitive social media policy which is regularly assessed and updated".

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See also: 'Employee who let off steam on Facebook unfairly dismissed' in The People Bulletin, 15 September 2011