Business

Social media – the legal perspective

THERE'S no doubt social media is a powerful tool, and one which no business can afford to ignore these days.

Many businesses seek to actively encourage their employees to get on their mobile and use Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, as tools to support their brand. It is quick, cheap and can take a simple message or image across the world in a matter of seconds.

But if used incorrectly, social media can become a very expensive.

In the world of social media, the links between personal and professional collide. According to a recent CPD survey, 39 per cent of employees have befriended a colleague or business contact on Facebook or LinkedIn, with 14 per cent posting status updates about their work. In addition, the survey found that 22 per cent tweeted about a work colleague and, most worryingly, 1 per cent admitted to posting confidential business information.

Employee misuse of social media can lead to reputational damage, discrimination or harassment, breach of confidentiality, and defamation.

It is not surprising, then, that marketers would (hardly ever) suggest ignoring social media.

However, CIM would recommend readiness. Whether or not an organisation chooses to engage with customers, clients, consumers or citizens in a social space is irrelevant – the conversation will happen regardless. It’s how prepared businesses are for it that will make all the difference.

What’s essential, as with any risk or vulnerability, is for an organisation to understand the issues and make the appropriate preparations to mitigate or avoid them. In this free flow of information and communication, an organisation can’t expect to control the conversation or silence its critics.

The key is to ensure that employees know how to best represent an organisation’s brand, beliefs and opinions online through well developed and internally communicated social media policies and guidelines.

As part of your brand’s reputation management, putting practices in place that give your online communications better structure is the best place to start. Controlling access to outgoing content, whether it’s on your website or social media, is imperative.

One company director recently said to me: “We take a huge amount of time and care over our advertising and press releases, yet when it came to our social media, we let so many people get involved - from our marketing intern to our branch managers who weren’t really writers. Our message wasn’t clear or consistent, and had the potential to go wrong.”

Consider the well-publicised HMV scenario, when the company’s Twitter account was taken over by staff members who’d been made redundant in January 2013. Or the Lord McAlpine Twitter case, wherein several high profile figures were successfully sued for defamatory comments. These examples bring home the cost of not managing social media channels properly.

To help companies look at the legal perspective of their social media usage, CIM will be running a seminar on March 22 in Belfast when Aisling Byrne, associate solicitor from Cleaver Fulton Rankin, will present on the legal aspects of social media. For more information about this and other upcoming events organised by CIM, go to www.cim.co.uk/Ireland

:: Carol Magill is CIM Network Manager for Ireland