OLJ task - FIVE KEY POINTS FOR A SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY

When developing a Social Media policy, it is necessary to involve key stakeholders so that all the most important aspects of a Social Media policy are addressed. Fleet (2009)suggests involving Senior Management, Marketing/PR, Human Resources, IT and legal people. Whilst these guidelines are aimed at corporations and business, school libraries could adapt these to involve the school principal, IT, library staff, a staff member responsible for school publications and senior school student representatives.

Five key points for inclusion in a Social Media policy could be:
• For all contributors to be responsible for what they write - Whether the user is an employee or student, people need to bear in mind who will be accessing the material that is put up. Therefore material needs to be appropriate, legal and of benefit to the internal contributers and the external consumers.
• Understand the concept of community - Content and tone need to remain positive so that the online experience is positive and of value to all. All parties need to respect people’s privacy and the need for confidentiality.
• Establish guidelines to protect employees and consumers. – Make the policy a positive document and focus on what can be done rather than what can’t be done. Separate different sections of the policy into internal and external users so that people are clear in their understanding of these guidelines. Endeavour to limit the length of the policy because if it is too long, many users will not read it.
• Respect copyright and fair use – teach and encourage all groups that original authors must be acknowledged. Observance of ethical use of material will contribute to the overall positive tone of social media use within the organization and thereby maintain a transparent and authentic interaction with developing social networking.
• Productivity matters – Within a school setting, this is not only for employees. Students also need to monitor how much time is being spent on social media. It is easy for large amounts of time to pass when surfing the net or interacting with other users through various forms of social media. Guidelines need to be established as to appropriate amounts of time to allocate to such interaction so that productivity on a personal and corporate level does not suffer.

Social media interaction is constantly growing and with judicious use can be an extremely positive experience both personally and corporately. A Social Media policy needs to be established and could evolve from existing policy regarding communication. There also needs to be time allowed for policy revision so that it is an accurate reflection of guidelines as new technologies develop.


REFERENCES

Fleet, D. (2009)Social Media Policies E-book (2009). Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/davefleet/social-media-policies-ebook



Lauby, S. (2009) 10 Must-Haves for Your Social Media Policy, Mashable, 6 February [blog] http://mashable.com/2009/06/02/social-media-policy-musts/