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Ralph Paglia

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Social Media Employee Policy Examples from Over 100 Organizations

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Posted July 3, 2010

Keywords: Social Networks, policies

This content sourced and republished from Social Media Governance

Social Media Employee Policy Examples from Over 100 Companies and Organizations

I get asked almost daily for examples of employee policies regarding social media, blogging, online comments and social networking... Before you read any further, by doing so, you acknowledge and accept my recommendation that whatever your company puts into place must be reviewed and edited by your corporate legal counsel before implementation.

When people ask me "How do I get started with Social Media Marketing" my initial response is that they should FIRST develop their official employee policy for social media and web based publishing.

Organization	Policy Title
About.com	Template: Blogging and Social Media Policy
About.com	Template: Internet and Email Policy
American Red Cross	Social Media Handbook for Local Red Cross Units
American Red Cross	Online Communications Guidelines
Australian Public Service Commission	Interim Protocols for Online Media Participation
Baker & Daniels	Social Media Policy
BBC	Editorial Guidelines, personal use of Social Networking
BBC	Use of Social Networking and other third party websites
BBC	Online Services Guidelines in Full
BBYO	Staff/Volunteer Presence on Social Networking Sites
Bread for the World	Online Technologies, Social Media and Bread
BT	Forum Guidelines
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)	Facebook Policy
Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)	Social Media Guidelines
Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)	Social Media Guidelines for Consultation
Children's Hospital Los Angeles	Share Your Story — Use and Access
Cicso	Internet Postings Policy
City of Hampton, VA	Social Media Policy
City of Seattle	Blogging Policy
Cleveland Clinic	Social Media Policy
Dell	Online Policy
DePaul University	Social Media Guidelines
Easter Seals	Online Community Guidelines
Electronic Frontier Foundation	How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)
ESPN	Social Media Guidelines For ESPN Employees
eWay Direct	Social Media Policy
Fairfax County, VA	Facebook Comments Policy
FedEx	Blog Policy
Feedster	Corporate Blogging Policy
Fellowship Church	Personal Website and Weblog Policies
FINRA	Guide to the Internet for Registered Representatives
Fudder	Netiquette
Gartner	Public Web Participation Guidelines
General Services Administration (GSA)	Social Media Policy
Gibraltar Associates	Associates Social Media Policy
GM	Blogger Policy
Greteman Group	Social Media Policy
Harvard Law School	Terms of Use
Headset Brothers	Social Media Policy
Hill and Knowlton	Blogging Policies and Guidelines (selected extracts)
Hill and Knowlton	Collective Conversation Code of Conduct
Hill and Knowlton	Social Media Principles
HP	Code of Conduct
IBM	Social Computing Guidelines
IBM	Case Study: The Impact of Corporate Culture on Social Media
InQbation	Government Policy Guidelines
Intel	Social Media Guidelines
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)	Social Media Staff Guidelines
International Olympic Committee (IOC)	Blogging Guidelines for Persons Accredited at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, Beijing 2008
Iowa Hospital Association	Comment Policy
Jaffe	Template: Social Media and Social Networking Policies and Procedures
Judith Lindeau	Template: Social Media Policy for Associations (Real Estate)
Kaiser Permanente	Social Media Policy
Kodak	Social Media Tips
Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center	Comments Policy
LiveWorld	Social Media Content Guidelines
Mayo Clinic	For Mayo Clinic Employees
Mayo Clinic	Participation Guidelines
Mayo Clinic	Comment Policy
Media Law Resource Center	Compilation of Legal Actions Against Bloggers
Microsoft	Channel 9 Doctrine
Microsoft	Tweeting Guidelines and Blogging Guidelines
Missouri Department of Transportation	Post A Comment — Use Policy
National Public Radio (NPR)	NPR News Social Media Guidelines
New Zealand State Services Commission	Principles for Interaction with Social Media
New Zealand State Services Commission	The Guide to Online Participation
Oce	Social Computing Guidelines
Opera	Employee Blogging Policy
Plaxo	Communication (Blogging) Policy
Porter Novelli	Our Social Media Policy
Powerhouse Museum	Communication Using Public Facing Museum Blogs — Policy
PR-Squared	Corporate Social Media Policy: Top 10 Guidelines
Razorfish	Employee Social Influence Marketing Guidelines
Rhetorica	Blogging and Comment Policy
RightNow	Social Web Employee Policy
Roanoke County, VA	Social Media Policy
Roanoke Times	News Standards and Policies
Robert Scoble	Press FAQ
SAP	Social Media Participation Guidelines 2009
Sentara	Social Media Policy
Shift Communications	Top 10 Guidelines for Social Media Participation
Smithsonian Institution	Web and New Media Strategy
Social Media Business Council	Disclosure Policy Toolkit
SpareBank 1	Rules for Blogging
State of Delaware	Social Media Policy
Sun Microsystems	Guidelines on Public Disclosure
Sun Microsystems	Alumni Blog Aggregation Additional Terms
Sutter Health	Policy for Social Networking and Other Web-Based Communications
Sutter Health	Guidelines for Participation in Online Communities
Telstra	3 Rs of Social Media Engagement
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center	Blog Policies and Guidelines
The Well	Community Guidelines
Thomas Nelson	Blogging Guidelines
U.K. Government	Template Twitter Strategy for Government Departments
U.S. Air Force	Air Force Blog Assessment
U.S. Air Force	New Media and the Air Force
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — Jacksonville District	Social Media User Guidelines
U.S. Coast Guard	Social Media — The Way Ahead
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)	Blogging at EPA for Greenversations
U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)	Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising
U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA) Office of Citizen Services (OCS)	Blog Policies
U.S. Navy	Web 2.0: Utilizing New Web Tools
UK Civil Service	Code for Online Participation
Unic	Social Media Guidelines
University of Maryland Medical Center	Comments Policy and Blog Participation Terms and Conditions
Wake County, North Carolina	Web 2.0 Guidelines for Use
Wal-Mart	Twitter External Discussion Guidelines
Walker Art Center	Blog Guidelines
Washington Post (via PaidContent.org)	Newsroom Guidelines for Use of Facebook, Twitter and Other Online Social Networks
Webtrends	Social Media Guidelines
Wells Fargo	Community Guidelines
Workplace Fairness	Off-Duty Conduct
Yahoo!	Personal Blogging Policy

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Authored by:

Ralph Paglia

- 1986 San Diego: Ralph pioneered Internet lead generation by using dial-in access to Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) with a charter enrollment in the first public access ISP (CompuServe). Generated the auto industry's first Internet Leads by posting vehicle offers on multiple BBS's. News of his success with these early experiments in online lead generation helped inspire creation of automotive ...

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January 28, 2013

alecia orsin says:

Nice post....Post is really very informative and inpressive too... I really appreciate this blog..Thank you so much for sharing this !!!!!

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January 28, 2013

alecia orsin says:

Hey, Thanks for your post, pretty good reading. I’ll be looking forward for next article of yours….

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August 5, 2012

Dan Di Federico says:

Great article and great list. At KPMG International, we've just released our Social Media Guidelines video, encouraging 145,000 parnets and employees to engage honestly and professionally. If anyone is interested, here is the link to the video. goo.gl/z4m3w.

Cheers

Dan

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March 8, 2012

SolennH H says:

Nowadays Social Networking Site really helps a lot, especially in revealing some identity.Thus, many people used this and really influenced their lives, and now is not wondering that many employers will also use this for their future references to know more about the identity of the candidates or employees. How much do our employers and educators need to know about our private lives? Many found it troubling when companies started using credit scores to screen brand new applicants. Now, many unrelated reports say that some colleges and employers expect candidates to give up their Facebook passwords. Resource for this article: Job-hunters being asked to divulge Facebook passwords

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October 25, 2011

A guest says:

Great list. Thanks. Are there any examples for banks publicly available?

Kind regards from Germany

Hansjörg

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July 14, 2011

A guest says:

Thanks for all the examples! Great post!

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July 10, 2010

Ralph Paglia says:

Blogger's Note
The blog post above should contain the following additional content and information designed to supplement the table in the post, which as Courtney Hunt points out, can be seen in original context within the SMT guidance section at http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php

Following content was intended to be in this post:

Personally and professionally, I like the Policy Tool for Social Media available at http://SocialMedia.PolicyTool.net for creating dealership and dealer group social media employee policy documentation, but for many people it is often useful to see what companies outside the car business do for given situation.

The following table contains the names of over 100 companies and organization that have published their Employee Social Media Policies or Guidelines online... The left side column is the name of the organization, and it is linked to their organizational or corporate home page. The right side column displays a link to the actual document of policy web page for you to either download or review. I found the information in the table shown at the Social Media Today website, which is a great reference site and resource for automotive marketing professionals looking for guidance and best practices regarding the use of Social Media to sell more cars, parts and service business."

The logo image below is linked to the Social Media Policy web application that I frequently ask clients to use:

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July 9, 2010

Courtney Hunt says:

This table looks like it was adapted from the list on the Social Media Governance site. To give credit where credit is due, here is the link to that site: http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php.

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July 10, 2010

Ralph Paglia says:

To: Courtney Hunt

You are correct, however substantial content additions included with my original post have been removed.

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July 8, 2010

John Bottom says:

Ralph

Thanks for posting this - a fascinating collection. Being a smaller company - just over 50 employees - we do not go to such length. I do not have time [clearly] to read all of the docs you have generously listed, but I am willing to bet that our socail media guidelines are the most succinct. We simply say: "Be on brand, be interesting".

We have documented what our brand values are elsewhere - and they include ideas of responsibility etc – so we saw no need to re-iterate it for social media. People know what we are about. What we wanted to do was to liberate staff to talk on behalf of the company. We can trust them to do it in real life, so we saw no reason not to trust them online.

Is this naive? Or is this kind of approach necessary if we are to avoid stifling individual personality? There is a sliding scale with complete censorship at one end and blind irresponsibility at the other. Where do we need to be?

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July 7, 2010

A guest says:

Every business would benefit from having a social media policy in place, but it should not be an all or nothing approach. Instead of having a policy in place that blocks social media completely or doesn’t block social media at all and expects employees to follow policy rules, why not block some pieces of social media and keep some parts of social media accessible? Social media is growing in the business world and companies would be missing out on its benefits if it is blocked entirely. Palo Alto Networks might have found a solution to this problem, they have a new software that has the ability to do thing such as a read-only facebook. I think companies could really benefit from something like this, what do you think? Here's a link to new whitepapers they have created:http://bit.ly/d2NZRp http://bit.ly/bsrh9CFacebook

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