How to Craft A Global Social Media Policy

Social media has transformed society, and that includes interactions between employers and employees, interactions among co-workers, and staff interactions with the outside world. No organization can predict when its next employee - or its latest ex-employee - will "go viral" with a post linking the company to controversial political positions, criticizing the business on an internet review site, chat room or blog, taunting a supervisor, harassing a subordinate, spreading rumors or lies about the brand, disparaging company products, leaking trade secrets, or haplessly touting company products in a way that violates advertising laws.

In today's social media environment, multinationals need a harmonized global approach regarding employee social media activity, but multi-jurisdictional legal challenges arise whenever a multinational employer crafts, launches, implements, and enforces a social media policy across its worldwide operations. Global social media policy projects can get complex because they must comply with inconsistent laws worldwide. This session offers practical strategies and how-to guidance for crafting or updating a workable cross-jurisdictional social media policy.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify when or whether a single global approach to an employee social media policy is appropriate to apply across a multinational's global operations

2. Explore how to account for U.S. domestic labor law restrictions in a global social media policy

3. Discuss off-duty social media activity, including off-site and on employees' own tech equipment, in a global social media policy

4. Examine what topics a global social media policy should cover

5. Recognize what logistical steps are necessary to launch an enforceable social media policy worldwide