Many companies answer to Social Media and Networking in the workspace is to just say no. But employees go home at the end of the day. So what is a reasonable way to address the issue of Social Media in the company? IBM has acheived some success with it’s policies and so have some others.

Social Computing Guidelines is IBM’s policy on employees using Social Media. It’s worked well because IBM (certainly having an advantage here being a technology company) recognizes the principles of Free Speach and the impossibility of enforcing a policy on workers outside the workplace. A company can’t stop an employee from opening a Facebook or Bebo account at home or from blogging. Such services can be turned off inside the workplace. This action was taken by the Ontario Provincial government in Canada who noticed significant network traffic jams during coffee breaks and lunch hours. This was, arguably, a sensible move.

It’s certainly reasonable to turn off access to Social Networking sites and not allowing blogging or Twitter access during the day (although there is a business case for Twitter usage in the workplace) while work needs to be done. Too many employees accessing these networks during peak times cause network decay and can overload servers and routers, aside from serious productivity losses.

If a company takes an aggressive anti-Social Media stance and attempts to enforce autocratic management policies on its employees, this is very likely to backfire and may result in significant negative reputation issues in the Social Mediasphere. Leading to a PR problem for the company. If an employee is fired for using Social Media - albiet not saying slanderous things about their employer - then a law suit for wrongful dismissal is a probable outcome.

Embraced like IBM, a company can turn their employees into a Marketing Force. Imagine having 250 employees or even only 10 who love working for the company and speak in Social Media about the great things being done. As long as they respect corporate confidentiality on certain key issues and identify themselves clearly as employees but not as official spokespeople, such a strategy can bring huge rewards.

In establishing a Social Media policy, be clear about what the policy is, where and when it’s appropriate and how employees should identify themselves. If you’re planning on monitoring Social Media, and employees active there, let them know and be open. This is a challenging issue for a corporation, it is another level of transparancy. Yet being closed and trying to enforce a No-Use Policy will likely end up causing negative feedback in Social Media. Remember, employees also have friends and family and employees may also go work for your competitor or leave anyway - then the cat’s out of the bag. Embrace and adopt Social Media and the rewards could be priceless in marketing and PR terms.