Social media in the workplace is nothing new, since the days of the BBS system people have been communicating with each other via work computers. The rise of social media is a double-edged sword for employers. While there are many new legal questions that have risen we will focus on who owns the relationships that are created at the work place, and does this entire social media add or subtract from production. Ultimately social media is here to stay, and it can be a very powerful business tool.
With the rise in social media, in all aspects, many companies are now hiring people too manage their social media pages. Image that getting paid to be on Facebook and Twitter! The biggest problem with hiring someone for this is when they inevitable happens, they leave. Who now owns all of those followers? “If this ownership issue is not hashed out at the beginning of employment, the employer and the employee may both believe the account is theirs.”(Quast, 2013) So do they own the followers or does the company own those followers? Just like anything, accounts with X amount of followers are a commodity now, and have monetary value. Employees and employers are both arguing misappropriation in many different theories regarding ownership's of contacts and further accounts information’s. Furthermore a “lawsuit over the 17,000 Twitter followers that one employee amassed during his employment using a Twitter handle referencing both the company’s and his own name – just settled, leaving the legal community and employers with little guidance at this point.” (Quast, 2013) This has risen big questions about how employers are protecting them self against former employees. Certainly employers must consider the best legal action when hiring and an individual, and know what the courts considered to be the factors of ownership's of such social media accounts.
Another consideration is the loss of work and productivity at the workplace. We all know how easy it is to get carried away from your day on Facebook or Twitter but how much production does that equate to? Social use at work has grown from 16 to 24% of workers very rapidly and even more interesting laptop users have even higher use rates. (O’Dell, 2010) So ultimately we have a double edged sword, a company can market itself very easily via social media, but at the same time they are losing production to social media itself.
All in all, social media is an important asset in company brands, and it helps promote their brands to consumer. It is important that they understand the legal actions of having a social media account, and what are some faults in giving accessing to an employee. However by consulting with a lawyer, and discussing ownerships with new employees in an agreements such problems can be avoided. Knowing that social media is a double edged sword not only in production but legal issues, begs one the question should you Tweet at your desk??
By: Shawn & Jefferson
References
1. O'Dell, J. (2010, July 2010). Social media use in the workplace is on the rise. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/velocity/2010/07/12/social-media-use-in-the-workplace-is-on-the-rise/
2. Quast, L. (2013, Febuary 18). Company social media accounts-who owns those twitter followers?. Forbs, Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2013/02/18/company-social-media-accounts-who-owns-those-twitter-followers/?awesm=awe.sm_fESLD
6 comments:
Great job Shawn and Jefferson!
Michelle
This is a great piece. Twitter, and really any other social media platform is causing ripples in the legislation of our government, especially when it involves employers and their employees. Where the lines are drawn and where this will end up is anybody's guess. Additionally, social media can be a great thing, but in excess it can lead to a huge waste of time of which the employer pays for in the end and on the other side who protects the employee when a miscommunicated comment estranges his/her employer? Thanks for the work - David W
Hey Guys-
Wow!Yet another topic I hadn't even considered! I would not have guessed that cyber connections would be thought of as property! After reading your blog, I can see how it can become an issue and understand they do indeed have a monetary value!This was really educational for me!
Thanks and nice work.
Michelle
well written blog post..
Social media has become a platform that is easily accessible to anyone with internet access. social media serves as a relatively inexpensive platform for organizations to implement marketing campaigns. Many companies ban workers from using social networking sites at work. Clearly the use of social networks is important to employees and plays a crucial role in their lives and should not be banned at the workplace completely. What is important is to specify how much such use may be permissible in the workplace.
Ej
I must say that I have never even considered the implications of the ownership of followers. I would tend to say that the ownership would belong to the company, rather than the individual running the company's social media site. For one, that individual is not on there to gain followers for himself. It is his job to market the company. Additionally, most companies that hire such workers usually have some sort of non-compete agreement. By signing such, the employee is stating that, essentially, he will not take customers (or followers in this case) in the event that the employee quits or is terminated.
I think that the benefits of social media to a company far outweigh the lost man-hours spent on social media sites. I think that most people, even if they are "heavy users" of social media, are still likely to complete assigned tasks, lest they lose their jobs. I don't think that the vast majority of employees spend the majority of their time at work on social media sites. It is more likely a quick check of the social media site of choice, then back to the task at hand.
Social media is ruling the world these days. Many jobs used to ban their workers from using these sites, however, they are now using these social media sites as a marketing technique. In fact, many businesses hire workers solely to control their social media sites. However, it is important to establish a clear agreement or contract about this line of work. Any use of social media should be under the business' name/identity. This way, workers have no rights to this, if they ever go their separate ways.
Post a Comment