Mediaboss Marketing

April 19, 2013, 11:37 PM PDT

Takeaway: Developing and distributing a social networking policy can help your company minimize the risks that come with employees using social media sites at work.

Note: This post originally published in our Tech Decision Maker blog in January 2013.

Social networking has been a prominent trend for a while, but companies are still figuring out the best ways to handle it in the workplace. Although social media sites can have many benefits for business they can offer companies new ways to reach current or potential customers or for employees to connect with each other they can also introduce new risks, such as:

Some organizations have responded by trying to block employees from accessing Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. However, many of them are learning that its not always possible to keep people off of social networks.

Three-quarters of employees use personal devices to access social media at work, with 60% saying they check Facebook, Twitter and other sites multiple times per day, according tothe newSocial Media and Workplace 2012 Report, courtesy ofSilkRoad.

Thats despite the fact that only 43% of the 1,105 people surveyed said their employer allows access to social media at work. In other words, blocking access to social networking sites wont do much to actually keep employees from using them.

While keeping employees off of social networks is difficult or impossible, developing and distributing a social networking policy can help companies minimize the risks.

There are some of the top mistakes organizations make when developing social networking policies.

A lot of companies social media efforts focus on keeping employees from posting anything online that damages the companys reputation, makes sensitive information public or creates other problems. But its important to make sure the rules apply to managers, too.

Go here to read the rest:
Top five social networking policy mistakes