MNG81001 Assessment 3: Social Media Policy and its Impact

This report examines the significance of social media within organizations, addressing its advantages and disadvantages, as well as the associated risks. It highlights the necessity for well-defined social media policies to mitigate potential damages to reputation and privacy. The report underscores the importance of employee conduct and suggests strategies for effective policy implementation. It also includes a case study and outlines the key features of a sample social media policy, along with a communication strategy, to ensure responsible social media usage. The report emphasizes the need for clear guidelines to protect businesses from legal violations and negative publicity, thereby maintaining productivity and brand integrity. The references provided further support the arguments and findings presented in the report.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Sensible use of Social Media
Name of the student
Name of the organization
Author Note:

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Introduction
Background
The following memo highlights the importance of using social media in different kind of
organizations in a proper and effective manner. The prevalence of social media in the workplace
has been continuing apace (Fuchs 2015). The employees of the organization are often free to
access social media through both employer ID facilities as well as different kinds of personal
devices. The unlimited use of social media both professionally as well as personally generally
increases the risk of the organizations as because the employees are often seen to breach the
codes of conduct and act unlawfully which may hamper the reputation as well as invite threat to
the privacy of the organization (Lüders Fossheim and Ingierd 2015).
Purpose
The purpose of this particular memo is to recognize the impact of social media on the
different kind of the organizations and the risk pertained by the same as a result of the use of
social media by the employees of the business enterprises. The business organizations are prone
to damages by the comments that are made by the employees. The discussion of the risks and the
behavior of the employees while using social media will help derive the appropriate strategies for
implementing an effective social media policy.
Thesis Statement
The thesis statement identifies the topic of the memo. The thesis statement of this
particular topic is “Use of Social Media by the employees have turned out to be a problem for
the organizations”.

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Blueprint
The main idea of the following memo is the sensible use of the social media in the
workplace and outside the workplace. The rise in the use of social media and the freedom of
expression often prompts people to make different comments that are not sensible enough and
harms the reputation of the business organization. The memo aims to highlight these following
issues and chalk out strategies that can help save the organizations from losing their reputation in
the market.
Advantages and Disadvantages for an organization using Social Media
Some of the potential advantages of using social media in the workplaces are as follows;
a. The social media channels can be used by the business organizations to publish different
kinds of advertisements and a promotion for their business.
b. The employee events and the brand name of the organizations can be easily promoted to
ensure the satisfaction of the brands
c. The use of social media is important for the business organizations as because it
strengthens the communication in between the employers and the employees
On the other hand the potential disadvantages of using social media are as follows;
a. Legal violations is the biggest threats to the organizations as employees are more
susceptible to the charges of violations to privacy and hampering the reputation of the
organization by means of posting and commenting different things which are totally
unacceptable to the organization

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b. The use of social media often hampers the productivity of the business as because it
hampers the creativity and productivity of the business organizations. It is important for a
business enterprise to enforce a clear business policy that can address the concerns of the
business
c. Negative exposure like postings from the earlier employees or even the clients casting the
employers in a negative light can cause extensive damage to the reputation of the
employees
Importance of Social Media Policies in the Workplace
According to, Johnston (2015) the implementation of social media policies in the
workplace is one of the initial requirements of the business. As mentioned earlier, the rise in the
number of the social media users over the years and the negative use of the social media by the
employees of the business enterprises are really one of the main reasons for the establishment of
strict policies in the workplace that could save the organizations from creating damage to their
reputation in the market. The effect of social media over the business enterprises can be
extremely serious with the employers often being held vicariously accountable for the employees
to conduct social media even when comments are made outside the workplace and not in the
office hours (Leiner et al. 2018). The existence of social media policies in the workplace helps
the organizations to define the sensible role of social media in the business, define the
appropriate and proper usage of the social media channels. Apart from this it also entails a guide
of proper usage of social media and explains the strict actions that will be conducted on any form
of breach of policies.

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Sunshine 100’s Social Media Policy
The main features of Sunshine 100’s Social Media Policy are;
1. Think before you Post- The employees in Sunshine 100 must be responsible before
posting and must ensure to check the post twice so as to avoid posting any lewd or
sensible comments that can harm the reputation of the company
2. The employees must be responsible while posting and must not post anything sensible
related to the strategies or secrets of the organization
3. Employees must not pass lewd comments and must ensure to maintain dignity when
passing comments.
4. Ensuring the trust is a key responsibility of the employees and thus maintains the trust
and responding to different kind of comments in a timely and responsible manner is the
key to the success of the organization.
Communication Strategy
Strategies Features
1. Timing:
 The employees of the organization will
receive the social media policy details
at the time of their induction in the
company
2. Audience:
 The employees of the organization will
receive the social media policy details
3. Sender:
 The Human Resource Department of
the organization will be the sender of
the social media policy details to the
employees
4. Key Messages:
 The main focus of the organization will
be to implement a proper and efficient
social media policy

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5. Desired Outcome:
 The management of the company will
demand an effective response from the
employees and will expect the
employees to work according to the
policies of the organization.
6. Medium:
 Social media channels will be the best
form of communication. Apart from it
different notices that can be send to the
mails of the employees also form an
important part of the communication
strategies
7. Materials:
 The main materials will be the social
media policies on how to sensibly use
social media channels
8. Frequency:
 Either on a weekly basis or after one
month. It will be better to keep an
efficient communication chain with a
weekly conversation

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References
Fuchs, C., 2015. Culture and economy in the age of social media. Routledge.
Johnston, J., 2015. ‘Loose tweets sink fleets’ and other sage advice: social media governance,
policies and guidelines. Journal of Public Affairs, 15(2), pp.175-187.
Leiner, D.J., Kobilke, L., Rueß, C. and Brosius, H.B., 2018. Functional domains of social media
platforms: Structuring the uses of Facebook to better understand its gratifications. Computers in
Human Behavior, 83, pp.194-203.
Lüders, M., Fossheim, H. and Ingierd, H., 2015. Researching social media: Confidentiality,
anonymity and reconstructing online practices. Internet research ethics, pp.77-96.
Richards, J., 2016. 7 Netnographical methods and the challenge of researching hidden and
secretive employee social media practices. Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods on
Human Resource Management: Innovative Techniques, p.92.
Wankel, C., 2016. Developing cross-cultural managerial skills through social media. Journal of
Organizational Change Management, 29(1), pp.116-124.