Admitting To Googling Could Hurt You

Recently I read a blog from a radio consultant who considers himself one of those "social media experts." While I agreed with the gist of the article -- that you should be using social media yourself before you use it on your radio stations -- I'd send up a red flag for any HR employee or executive who admits publicly that they search out potential employees via social media (i.e., Facebook, etc.)

Most "media experts" don't see the inherent danger of that admission, simply because they are not on the front lines -- like myself and many others, protecting companies, as well as extending their brands online.

As Multi Media Content Manager for Midwest Communications, I am currently helping Midwest create a Social Media Policy after discussing this and other relevant issues with lawyers.

Every company should have a Social Media Policy, but coming up with a good one is easier said than done. Here's what I know:

When creating this policy, the lawyers urge companies to consider their workplace culture. The policy should be appropriate to company culture. If the policy will be totally rejected by employees, you're setting yourself up for problems.

The lawyers also suggested the following people be part of the development of the policy: HR, Legal, IT, Marketing Manager, actual employees who use social media and PR/Corporate.

Once created, train employees on policy. Employees may not understand that when they "vent" via social media, that vent is immediate, it has a global reach, it's searchable and it's forever. Make sure that you revisit the policy annually.

In a recent study, 53% of employees believe their status updates and tweets are not their employer's concern. This is a serious consideration for any company that uses social media (which includes the practice of "googling") to look up current/potential employees for hiring/firing purposes. Here's why:

1. Companies run the risk of uncovering information about applicants/employees not relevant to hiring/firing decisions which could lead to possible discrimination claims.
2. Invasion of Privacy Act.
3. Federal Stored Communications Act.

The employer's risks associated with employees using social media are: injury to corporate reputation; disclosure of trade secrets/proprietary information/new product plans; financial information or false advertising claims. The lawyers urged companies to consider "doing nothing" if they are feeling "defamation" issues.

Besides the three areas mentioned above, there's also the National Labor Relations Act. A Houston jury recently handed down a verdict against a restaurant after a manager got access to a private MySpace.com group where employees vented against management, discussed heavy drinking and other issues. The manager fired everyone in the group. The jury noted "not just an invasion of privacy," but upheld the "Federal Stored Communications Act," which states "if the information is not accessible to the employer due to it not being on the employers systems' it's not proprietary to the employer." The jury found that the firing was negligent, and the restaurant was ordered to pay settlement plus attorney fees.

If you feel that an employee is defaming your company online, lawyers suggest having a "neutral professional" evaluate the situation.

Consider the option of doing nothing, due to online speech protection and the costs of litigation.

Was it opinion or not?

The company has to prove "actual malice" to succeed in a defamation claim.

Subjective and non-verifiable statements are not actionable. They are 1st Amendment-protected opinions, and by the way, companies can't really go after social media sites either due to The Communications Decency Act, which provides federal immunity for sites hosting third party-created online "defamation."

In the end, we are in a world of broadcasting without context. We can say things that can sound weird to some, but make sense to others. Even Facebook.com recently made your social media experience less private by allowing everyone to see your public activity, the pages you're a fan of, and even folks you friend. We don't have the time to explain why we fan'd a page, confirmed a friendship, made a remark, etc. Because of this, It's important for everyone to know, social media is not a tool for HR, executives, brand managers, etc. to look up to see if someone "gets it" before they're hired or fired.