5 Key points to consider when developing a social media policy relating to employees use of Web 2.0 tools for work and personal use while using the school’s computers, network and time.
When you consider how people communicate with one another, social media is becoming fundamental to personal and now professional dialogues. The distinction between personal and professional use of social media is becoming more blurred. Companies are realising the value of having employees follow and participate in the social media conversations about their brand. Oracle actually encourages its employees to follow the company’s social media channels (Stiles, n.d.).
Schools are different to big corporations in their daily operations but not when it comes to the community conversations about them on social media. Schools should have a social media presence to build their own brand and contribute to those conversations. To ensure the reputation of the school and the safety of the students there should be very clear standards of communication practice around the use of social media. Effective policies represent a school’s intent to deal with all of its community with “trust, transparency, authenticity, integrity and competence” (Johnston, 2015, p. 185).
Here are 5 key factors to consider if your school is creating a social media policy
- Involve the people to whom the policy will apply. Create a committee and get a range of people to be involved (Zimmer, 2010). In a school that would include students, parents, teachers, school leadership team and Board of Governors. The range would not only to represent those interest group’s views but it would also most likely represent a range of social media use.
- Listen to the community. Ask people about the way they use social media both at home and at school. Find out what people’s expectations are about the personal and public divide in social media (Johnston, 2015, 185). Survey the community, collect information about what people are using and how they use it. (Oxiem Brand Interactions, 2010). Schools have the great resource of parents who may well have knowledge of their own workplace policies.
- Review existing school policies that may have impact. Schools will already have a number of policies that relate to this one such as Technology Acceptable Use Policy, Student Safety Policy and Staff Conduct Guidelines. It would be important for the Social Media Policy to reinforce these (Oxiem Brand Interactions, 2010).
- Investigate the Social Media policies of other schools and corporations. Ask schools with similar focus to share their policies. Look at corporation policies to see if there is some cross over.
- Involve the people to whom the policy will apply. Throughout the process get feedback, consult about philosophy and then once the policy is completed get more feedback. Provide training around the policy for everyone to whom it applies (Johnston, 2015, 179). Regularly review the policy with everyone.
References
Johnston, J. (2015). ‘Loose tweets sink fleets’ and other sage advice: social media governance, policies and guidelines. Public Affairs, 15, 175-187. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pa.1538.
Oxiem Brand Interactions. (2010, March 18). Social media policy for school districts [Slides]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/oxiem/social-media-policy-for-school-districts?ref=https://interact2.csu.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-636350-dt-content-rid-1452935_1/courses/S-INF506_201590_W_D/module6/6_2_Social_media_networking_policies_organisations.html
Stiles, M. (n.d.). Essentials of an employee social media policy [Blog post]. Retrieved from Oracle Social Spotlight website: https://blogs.oracle.com/socialspotlight/entry/essentials_of_an_employee_social
Zimmer, L. (2010, April 14). Social Media issues and policies for government agencies. [Slides]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/guestd39dc835/social-media-policies-for-government-agencies-why-and-how?ref=https://interact2.csu.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-636350-dt-content-rid-1452935_1/courses/S-INF506_201590_W_D/module6/6_2_Social_media_networking_policies_organisations.html