Social Media Guidelines Research Articles

The Internet Is Forever: Student Indiscretions Reveal the Need for Effective Social Media Policies in Academia

Students’ imprudent use of social media might threaten their employability and undermine their emerging professional identities. Most professions acknowledge that any benefits of social media must be balanced against its potential to negatively affect workers’ professional lives and the public trust. Professional bodies have developed social media guidelines as a part of more general professional codes of conduct to try to mitigate the legal, ethical, and social risks that imprudent social media use can pose to patients, clients, colleagues, and social media users themselves. This discussion considers examples of students’ social media use from health care and other tertiary programs in Australia and Sweden and concludes that universities must confront social media challenges as part of students’ educational experience for the development of a responsible and professional digital citizenry.

Social Media Guidelines for Journalists

Now that an increasing number of journalists and editorial offices make use of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to research, break, distribute and discuss the news, social media guidelines are being issued with increasing frequency by news organizations that want to indicate to journalists what is and is not permitted on these platforms. This study investigates how Flemish journalists experience the sense and nonsense of these social media guidelines, focusing on rules that prescribe their behaviour on Twitter. Analysis of 20 in-depth interviews demonstrates that the majority of Flemish journalists find the introduction of rules concerning the use of Twitter unnecessary. The argument heard most often is that the journalist's common sense should be enough to deal with the platform in the proper way. A number of journalists even find the rules a curtailment of individual freedom. Guidelines concerning specific formal requirements—such as mentioning the employer in the Twitter biography and/or account name, or the requirement to only use one account—encounter particular resistance. The journalists interviewed are, however, favourably disposed to a list of non-enforceable recommendations. Based on these findings, the tweeting journalists seem to indicate that they themselves are able to both adapt their use of social media to fit traditional professional norms and adapt those norms to fit the media logic of the Twitter platform.

Social Media Guidelines and Best Practices: Recommendations from the Council of Residency Directors Social Media Task Force

Social media has become a staple of everyday life among over one billion people worldwide. A social networking presence has become a hallmark of vibrant and transparent communications. It has quickly become the preferred method of communication and information sharing. It offers the ability for various entities, especially residency programs, to create an attractive internet presence and “brand” the program. Social media, while having significant potential for communication and knowledge transfer, carries with it legal, ethical, personal, and professional risks. Implementation of a social networking presence must be deliberate, transparent, and optimize potential benefits while minimizing risks. This is especially true with residency programs. The power of social media as a communication, education, and recruiting tool is undeniable. Yet the pitfalls of misuse can be disastrous, including violations in patient confidentiality, violations of privacy, and recruiting misconduct. These guidelines were developed to provide emergency medicine residency programs leadership with guidance and best practices in the appropriate use and regulation of social media, but are applicable to all residency programs that wish to establish a social media presence.

Physicians, Medical Boards Offer Social Media Guidelines

Physicians, Medical Boards Offer Social Media Guidelines

JUDGE 2.0: A NEW APPROACH TO JUDICIAL ETHICS IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

This Note examines the risks associated with judicial officers’ use of social media. It argues that while committees and panels across the country have made progress in identifying and resolving ethical issues arising out of social media, novel approaches to the problem may be necessary to limit the exposure of judicial officers to ethical quandaries arising out of rapid technological change. Part I defines social media and surveys how state judiciaries have adopted social media guidelines for judicial officers. Part II reviews the Model Code of Judicial Conduct and presents specific hypothetical scenarios where the use of social media could implicate existing rules. Part III examines a report from Utah’s Subcommittee on Social Media. The report illustrates how state judiciaries could creatively grapple with the ethical dimensions of social media. Building on Utah’s example, Part IV concludes that state judiciaries can adapt to the pressure of social media by relying upon traditional institutional and extra-institutional resources.

Table of Contents

Abstract Avoid These Five Newsletter Blunders Employee Relations Issues Mascot Is ‘Chicken Soup’ for Employees' Soul Time Management Tips Public Service Announcements Raise Awareness With Powerful PSAs Career Advancement Improve Your Odds of Getting Advanced From Within Small Shop Management Turn Small Staff Into Collaborative Communications Team Training, Educating Others Five Ways to Help Training Efforts Stick Publicize Videos With Your Own YouTube Channel Draw Attention to Board Member Connections Crisis Communication Issues Bad News Travels Fast: Be Prepared Social Media Ideas 100 Ways to Connect Alums Throughout the ‘Twitterverse’ Marketing, Writing Tips Three Subject Headers That Work Targeting Key Audiences Who Should Be Receiving Your Organization's Newsletter? What Turns You On? Play Up the Importance of Your Mission Statement Reach Potential Members Through the Media Five Useful Tips for Editing Content Individual Profile Ideas You Can Use: Sponsor a Video Contest Customer Relations Issues Test Your Organization's Signage, Ease of Locating Communications Policies and Procedures Social Media Guidelines Benefit All Six Tips for Overcoming Procrastination Barriers Keep Image Audits Focused Measuring Perceptions Compare Perceptions Among Most‐Admired Competitors

Future trends in social media use for strategic organisation communication: Results of a Delphi study

This article examines current uses of social media for communication by enterprises, political organisations and non-profit organisations (NPOs) and identifies likely future trends. Based on a quantitative online survey among 860 communication professionals in Germany and a follow-up qualitative Delphi study with 32 identified experts from the organisational communication profession and academia, it explores the status quo and aims to identify future directions. While organisations show more advanced structures for social media communication compared to earlier research findings, the empirical data also identifies many shortcomings. The potentials of social media communication are not fully exploited due to missing prerequisites including governance structures, rules and resources. Looking into the future, the Delphi panel suggests that dedicated budgets, social media guidelines and other structural aspects will increase in the near future. However, many organisations will find specific ways to deal with the issue and common strategies are rare. At the same time, according to the qualitative findings, social media evaluation and cooperation across the boundaries of departments and organisational functions are likely to stay underdeveloped.

Reviewing social media use by clinicians: Table 1

Adoption studies of social media use by clinicians were systematically reviewed, up to July 26th, 2011, to determine the extent of adoption and highlight trends in institutional responses. This search led to 370 articles, of which 50 were selected for review, including 15 adoption surveys. The definition of social media is evolving rapidly; the authors define it broadly to include social networks and group-curated reference sites such as Wikipedia. Facebook accounts are very common among health science students (64–96%) and less so for professional clinicians (13–47%). Adoption rates have increased sharply in the past 4 years. Wikipedia is widely used as a reference tool. Attempts at incorporating social media into clinical training have met with mixed success. Posting of unprofessional content and breaches of patient confidentiality, especially by students, are not uncommon and have prompted calls for social media guidelines.

Youth in Foster Care and Social Media: A Framework for Developing Privacy Guidelines

Although youth in foster care most likely use social media websites, there appears to be a lack of policy guidelines related to this use. When one considers youth in foster care, the state's mandate to provide safety, and foster parents' rights to exercise parenting responsibilities, the notion of privacy and the use of social media becomes complex. Critical Systems Heuristics will be introduced as a tool in developing policy recommendations. An application of this framework will be provided which can serve as a guide for an agency or workgroup tasked with developing policy guidelines for social media use by youth in foster care.

TEC Project Report: Social media and online collaboration tools' place and purpose in committee work

The AWWA Information Management and Technology Research Committee, under the Water Science and Research Division, conducted a 15‐question survey and commissioned research into the benefits and risks of using social media and collaboration tools by AWWA committees. The survey included multiple‐choice and free‐form questions relating to social media and collaboration tools used for committee and/or volunteer work for industry organizations. Utilities today face tighter budgets and a greater need for collaboration than ever, and social media and collaboration tools have demonstrated potential in addressing these issues. This article presents the results of the survey and research and suggests guidelines for social media and collaboration tools that may be of interest to users, no matter which direction AWWA takes in the future. AWWA currently recommends that committees do not use general collaboration tools or social media, except in specific defined instances, because of intellectual property rights risks but will incorporate this project's findings into its decision‐making process as it develops a path that best supports the association's objectives and its members.

Teaching Web 2.0 Beyond the Library: Adventures in Social Media, the Class

Librarians at the Mayo Clinic developed customized Web 2.0 courses for library staff, health science faculty, and nurse educators. As demand for this type of training spread across the institution, a single, self-paced class was developed for all employees. The content covered the typical Web 2.0 and social media tools (e.g., blogs, really simple syndication [RSS], wikis, social networking tools) emphasizing the organization's social media guidelines. The team consulted with the public affairs department to develop the class and coordinate marketing and advertising. The eight-module, blog-based course was introduced to all employees in 2010. Employees completing each module and passing a brief assessment receive credit on their employee transcript. Libraries staff provided support to participants throughout the duration of the course through chat widgets, e-mail, and blog comments. The results show that even though a high number of learners accessed the course, the completion percentage was low since there was no requirement to complete the course. Deploying a single, self-paced course for a large institution is an enormous undertaking, requiring the support of high level administration, managers, and employees.

Medical Professionalism: A Tale of Two Doctors

The AMA’s social media guidelines provide physicians with some basic rules for maintaining professional boundaries when engaging in online activities. Left unanswered are questions about how these guidelines are to be implemented by physicians of different generations. By examining the issues of privacy and technological skill through the eyes of digital natives and digital immigrants, the challenges associated with medical e-professionalism become clear.

Managing the threats and opportunities of the open corporation

PurposeThis “Masterclass” paper aims to show senior leaders seeking innovation in various degrees of corporate openness how to defend their businesses against the threats and to take advantage of the opportunities posed by social media.Design/methodology/approachOpenness is not an “anything goes” approach to management. This paper explains the rules for two‐way accountability, with clear delineation of what is expected from each side of the relationship.FindingsGetting involved in social media can be disturbing to managers because it means dismantling some of the barriers and controls that embodied the 20th Century organization and that filtered communications within and to and from the organization.Practical implicationsOne approach is to articulate “covenants” between the parties so that everyone knows explicitly what behavior is appropriate. For example, social media guidelines for employees and customer‐facing guidelines, such as community participation or comment guidelines.Originality/valueFor most organizations, being more open means building relationships that have not existed before. This paper offers leaders a detailed, practical, analytic guide for managing the process.