Using Social Media in Business: A Panel Discussion on Policies and Best Practices

Posted by Mandy Montano on
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 at 6:13 pm

On May 6, the Seattle Chapter of the Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA) presented a panel discussion on social networking and corporate policy, which focused on the need to monitor and/or regulate the use of social media in business. Three panelists discussed the established policies and needs of their organization.

Sharon Johnson, Public Records Officer of the City of Seattle’s Legislative Department, explained that when social media is used to conduct official business, it’s considered public record.

Johnson shared a case of a council member who was texting and facebooking during a session.

According to the Legislative Department Policy,

“Any content maintained in social media format… that is related to City business, including communication between an individual Councilmember and constituent or the general public, and site’s listing of “friends” or “followers”, may be considered a public record subject to disclosure under the state Public Records Act.”

These records would be considered for long term retention as required by the applicable records retention criteria.

Andrew SanAgustin, Records Manager at law office Foster Pepper cautioned there is no difference between personal and professional social media. It can be risky to speak without considering how it impacts the company you work for. The Foster Pepper Social Media Policy and Guidelines state:

“If attorneys or staff choose to mention their association with Foster Pepper on any personal site, they should seriously consider the context in which they do so. (…)  Attorneys and staff are personally responsible for their online posting and solely liable for online posting found to be defamatory, harassing, or in violation of any applicable federal and state law.”

Text messages are another form of communication that many people think of as private, but can end up in a public context. Any form of communication relevant to a case can be obtained by court, including text messages.“Once you type something and you write it down, you gave it life,” SanAgustin warned.

Rod Brooks, VP and Chief Marketing Officer of PEMCO Insurance, cautioned against paranoia and over-control of social media. Instead, Brooks encouraged companies to adopt policies based on due diligence. PEMCO’s social media guiding principles include “use common sense,” “be thoughtful about how you present yourself in online social networks,” “use good judgment,” and “don’t forget your day job.”

PEMCO encourages their employees to “bring your whole self to work,” but Brooks remarked, it is difficult to separate personal and professional personas. PEMCO’s Social Media Guidelines and Recommended Practices emphasize differentiating personas using “I” statement versus “PEMCO” statements.

Overall, the three panelists agreed that social media policies should include guidelines that reflect the company’s ethics and culture, as well as regulatory requirements.

Finally, it’s important to be cautious about what we consider to be permanent records and what we consider to be recreational conversation. Who we are professionally and personally cannot easily be divided into two separate personas anymore.

How we conduct ourselves when using social media—and how what we say is received, captured, and retained, is now up for discussion.

Mandy Montano is a records management professional and a student of the MCDM program.