Survey: Half of All Businesses Do Not Have Social Media Policies
More and more businesses are using social networks as a business tool, often as a distinct part of marketing and public relations strategies. A recent survey by Proskauer’s International Labor & Employment Group of more than 120 multinational employers revealed that, while 76 percent of businesses use social networking for business purposes, more than half of them do not have social media networking policies in place.
43 percent of the respondents of the Social Networks in the Workplace Around the World survey have reported employee misuse of social networks, which is a natural consequence of lack of policies.
The majority of the businesses surveyed have only started using social networks for business purposes in the last two years. This still doesn’t justify the lack of policies, and the lack of social media training for that matter. To avoid workplace issues that could result from the use of social networks the application of at least general principles is mandatory for any business. For larger businesses, however, these may not be enough.
There, specific social media policies and practices play an important role, especially to minimize risks including data loss, leaks, and privacy. Businesses need to monitor social media activity for business to ensure that none of the confidential internal issues transpire, for example, or, to respond timely to customer questions, complaints and lob.
The results of the survey are available for download (*.pdf) on Proskauer’s official website. The paper is important not only for the survey results, but also for the additional information included. In collaboration with select law firms across the world, Proskauer have also included a brief summary of the developing law in relation to social networks and the workplace, which provides a valuable overview of the similarities and differences in different jurisdictions in relation to this increasingly important issue.
Thus, Proskauer’s paper attempts to provide some answers to some of the most frequently asked questions across the following jurisdictions: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, The Netherlands, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.
