A social media usage policy is a set of rules developed by organizations to regulate the use of social media by employees. As a manager in a midsized engineering firm, you see the need to draft such a policy. You have received reports that employees are using the Internet and social media sites during work hours to check Facebook and Twitter, look for jobs on LinkedIn, shop on eBay, and even play games online. You have also received reports that some employees have posted inappropriate comments about the company on Facebook. You have reason to worry about appropriate behavior, declining productivity, security problems, and liability issues. The executive council now wants to establish a social media policy, in addition to the already existing Internet policy, to clarify their policies on social media use and acceptable behavior. You are aware that the executive council needs to know that acceptable use of social media pertains to employees at work and at home. You decide to talk with other managers about the problem and to look at other companies' social media policies. You'll report your findings in a justification/recommendation report.

Your Task. As a team, discuss the need for comprehensive social media use policies in general. Search for information about other firms' social media policies. Read about companies that are currently facing lawsuits over employees' inappropriate messages on social media networks. Find out what areas your policy should cover. Should the policy include guidelines for behavior on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and wikis? Each member of the team should present and support his or her ideas regarding what should be included in the policy. Individually or as a team, write a convincing justification/recommendation report in memo format to the executive council based on the conclusions you draw from your research and discussion. Because you are recommending action, decide whether your approach should be direct or indirect.