1. OrganizationalSocial Media Policies: Developments in
Practice andResearch
Melissa D. Dodd, Ph.D.
University of Central Florida
@mellydodd
melissa.dodd@ucf.edu

2. Queen of theSky
• Year:2003
• Ellen Simonetti
• Filed suit against Delta in 2005 and settled for undisclosed amount
• National media attention; guest articles in New York Times, among others;
book deal
• Initiated blogger’s rights committee and petition

3. HMV
• Year:2013
• HMV lays off 200 employees, including their SM accountmanager
• “We’re tweeting live from HR wherewe’re all being fired! Exciting!
#hmvXFactorFiring”
• “Just overheard ourMarketing Director (he’s staying, folks) ask ‘How do I shut down
Twitter?’”
• Headlines in nearly everymajor newspaperon both sides of the Atlantic

4. CorporateSocialMedia
• Manpower’s study (2010) found that 75% of employers (of the 34,400 responses
worldwide) say their organizations do NOT have formal policies regardingSM
• Yet, 73% of Fortune 500 companies have Twitter accounts, and SM is a staple
corporate strategy, forecast to unlock some $1.3 trillion in value in the years ahead
(Fast Company, 2013)
• Why? Overnight, social media has gone from dorm room toy to boardroom tool.

5. Public RelationsRole
• Strategiccommunicatorsquicklyrecognizedasthosemost capableofmanagingSM duetoexpertisein
communication,public andmedia relations
• Wright& Hinson (2009) foundthatagreement astowhetherornotSM affectedinternalcommunication
grew from38% in 2008to 45%in 2009;andresearchandmeasurementofemployeeuseof socialmedia
increased from3% in 2006to25% in 2009
• Supa& Kelly(2012) reviewed SM policies of26higher-edinstitutions,concluding that50%were
administeredbystrategiccommunicatorsand12%byinterdepartmentaltaskforces
• Elving(2005): “applicationsemerging fromthisnew technologyofferawide rangeofopportunitiesfor
reaching twoofthemain goals ofinternalcommunication:(a) communicationtoinform and(b)
communicationaimed atcreatingcommunity”

6. Primary Research
• Dodd, M.D. & Stacks, D.W. (2013). Organizationalsocial media policiesand best
practicesrecommendations. InAl-Deen, H. & Hendricks, J. (Eds). SocialMediaand
StrategicCommunication. pp. 159-179. PalgraveMacmillanPublishers: London,
England.
• Despite emphasis onPR roleand legalramificationsdetailed inbothresearch
(Terilli,Driscoll,& Stacks, 2008) and practice, littleactual guidance exists re:
– Involvement by whom?
– Details of policy content
– Merging of strategic communication best practices with legal
– Implementation by whom?

7. Method
• In-depthreading and content analysisofexisting organizationalSM policiesaimed
at internalaudiences
• Random sample (n=45) oforganizationalpolicies fromexisting, freelyavailable
onlinedirectory
– Corporate (n=15)
– Nonprofit (n=15)
– Government (n=15)
• Largeorganizationswithconservativelyestimated internalaudience forpolicies
average= 50,031 and revenues/endowments/budgets allin the millions-billions

8. Results
• SM policy themes
• PR concepts
• Best practices recommendations

10. MajorTakeaways
• What was included:
– Socialmedia defined(80%)
– Personalv.organizationalusedefined(84%)
– Prohibitedcontent(91%)
– Privacy(89%)
– Transparency(87%)
– Reputation(82%)
– Ethics(78%)
• PR > legal re: policies
• On the surface, it seems the ideas of best practices from extant PR literature are present, but
we know from existing SM literature/practices that these may be more lip service than
practice

11. MajorTakeaways
• What was NOT included:
– Mission/vision/values/objectives (53%)
– Evaluation(76%)
– Empowerment(57%)
– On thejob usepolicy(58%)
– Disciplinaryaction(58%)
– How-to/bestpracticesapproachesperplatforms(67%)
• Lack of strategy, links to objectives and evaluation
• Focus on prohibitive versus empowering approach
• Remains a lack of clear policy surrounding on the job use and disciplinary action

12. A BEST PRACTICES TEMPLATE

14. I. Summary& Introduction
• Collaborative effort:communication,legal,and IT departments
• One pagesummary letter from theCEO
• Purpose of policy: not to stiflepersonal expression or limitrights,
rather to empower
“These online social media principles have been developed to
help empower our associates to participate in this new frontier
of communications, represent our Company, and share the
optimistic and positive spirits of our brands”
–Coca-Cola Co.

16. • Scope (includingpersonal v. professional use) and who it applies
to
“In general, what you do on your own time is your affair.
However, activities in or outside of work that affect your IBM job
performance, the performance of others, or IBM’s business
interests are a proper focus for company policy … When the
company wishes to communicate publicly as a company –
whether to the marketplace or to the general public – it has well
established means to do so. Only those officially designated by
IBM have authorization to speak on behalf of the company”
-IBM

17. II. SM, Use,& Best Practices
• Defineand updateregularly
• Connecttoorganizationmission/goals/objectives
• Prohibitedcontent:(a) official representationofthe organization;
copyright/trademark; (c) private information; and (d) content that is disparaging to
the organization (Sears)
• Process by which commentsand complaintscanbesubmittedtothe
company
Goal: To recruit potential Girl Scouts, volunteers, and donors,
and retain current Girl Scout membership … To continue to
strengthen the message that we are building girls of courage,
confidence, and character who make the world a better place”
-Girl Scouts of America
“Loose tweets sink fleets” -U.S. Navy

18. III. SMManagement
• Content
• Frequency
• Moderation
• Evaluation
“Avoid public disputes. Avoid
sarcasm. Think before responding”
-Xerox
“We will moderate all comments and responses to Bread’s
social media. We will ensure that no spam, profanity,
defamatory, inappropriate or libelous language will be posted
to our sites. Neither will we use such language when we post
comments to other people’s sites” –Bread for the World

19. IV. BestPractices
• Concluding sectionwith bestpracticesper platform
• Collect digitalsignaturesthatread/understand
• SM Policies foryour reference:
– Kodak
– Coca-Cola
– BestBuy
– IBM

21. CurrentControversies& Future Forecasts
• U.S. National Labor Relations Board (2012)re: Hispanics United (see Myers, in-press PR
Review)
– prohibitsemployersfromfiring employees forsocial media poststhatcontainwork-related
grievances.
• Employer access to SM usernames/passwords for employees and potential employees
– 16U.S. stateshaveenactedprohibitionsstatingthatemployerscannotretaliateagainstemployees
orrefuse hirebasedonrefusalto provideSM access
• A global trend: France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, UK, Canada, China, Brazil, and South
Africa
• Beyond guidelines, strategy!

22. ThankYou!
Melissa D. Dodd, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor,Advertising-Public Relations
University of Central Florida
melissa.dodd@ucf.edu
@mellydodd