The Evolution Of Social Networking Technologies In The Workplace

Balancing Employee and Employer Rights

In the past few years, there has been an explosion in the use of social networking technologies. While these technologies represent tremendous opportunities for employers, they also contain the potential for various legal pitfalls. It is important for employers and their counsel to understand the benefits of social media, such as using it for recruiting; the disadvantages, such as lost productivity; as well as the legal issues that can arise when using social media. The following sections will provide: (1) an overview of the most popular social networking sites and technologies; (2) a look at their use in the workplace; (3) a discussion of the potential legal issues employers face when utilizing these tools; (4) a look at recent cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and the NLRB; and (5) suggestions for implementation of an appropriate social networking policy.

1. Commonly used social networking technologies

   Facebook (www.facebook.com) is a social networking website where users can add friends, send messages, and update their profiles to notify others about themselves. Users have the ability to join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region, as well as groups for common interests. This social networking website was initially launched in 2004 by Harvard undergraduates and it quickly spread worldwide. Facebook currently has over 300 million active users. Notably, the trend is no longer unique to the younger generation as the 35-49 year old age group has recently experienced the largest growth.1

   Myspace (www.myspace.com) is one of the world's largest social networks with over 125 million users. Myspace is considered the music network, connecting millions of bands with millions of music lovers. Along with music, Myspace is similar to Facebook where users can add friends, send them messages, and comment on their profiles. Users can customize their profiles, add music, and there are even several independent websites offering Myspace customized layout designs for profiles.2

   Twitter (www.twitter.com) is a social networking service that enables its users to send and read messages known as "tweets." Tweets are posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to subscribers who are known as "followers." Launched in 2006, Twitter asks one question: "What are you doing?" This service is recognized by celebrities and corporations for its self-promotion. Twitter grew 1,382% between February 2008 and February 2009. A February 2009 compete.com blog entry ranked Twitter as the third most used social network based on their count of 6 million monthly visitors.3

   LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) is a social networking website focused on professional networking. This website allows registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. The people in the list are called "connections" and users can invite anyone to become a connection. Launched in 2004, LinkedIn currently has over 50 million members in over 200 countries worldwide.4 These connections can help members find jobs, list jobs, and search for potential candidates.5 Meettheboss (www.meettheboss.com) is a business networking tool for business executives around the world. Members of Meettheboss have individual profiles with listed business interests. This site features weekly interviews with industry leaders heading large global companies. Discussion groups are set up with Question and Answer sessions to provide opportunities for users to make contacts and gain insight from industry leaders.6 Plaxo (www.plaxo.com) is another social networking service and online address book that provides automatic updating of contact information. Users store their information on the servers and when this information is edited by a user, the changes appear in the address books of all those listed as a contact. In 2008, Plaxo reported 20 million users.7 Chamber (www.chamber.com) is a business networking site connecting 2000+ local business communities worldwide. According to the site, it is an online chamber of commerce "on steroids." It allows members the ability to (1) market products and services; (2) network quickly and easily in local chambers and around the world; and (3) access specialty webinars. Employers and their counsel must be familiar with these social networking websites and especially their prevalence. According to a Nielson Report, time spent on these social networking sites accounted for one in every eleven minutes spent on the internet around the world in 2008.8 Additionally, 35% of hiring managers "google" applicants, while 23% check social networking sites and approximately 1/3 of these searches results in a job rejection.9 Moreover, 79% of employees use social networking at work for "business reasons."10 Texting is the exchange of brief written messages (140 characters or less) between mobile and portable devices (iPhones; Blackberries; pagers; etc.). Blogs are a type of interactive website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, description of events, or other material such as graphics or video. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, as well as links to other websites and other media related to this topic. Blogs also typically provide their readers the ability to post comments for an interactive dialogue.11

2. Social networking technologies in the workplace

   Social networking sites are great resources for employers for marketing and advertising purposes. Additionally, social networking sites provide a good resource for recruiting. As many as 47% of employers state that they use social networking sites to look at candidate profiles. Indeed, social networking sites can provide insight into whether a candidate will fit with the company culture. A list of justifications for screening applicants through these tools is extensive and the number of employers who are taking advantage of it continues to grow. Even the Obama administration required candidates seeking positions in the administration to disclose any potentially damaging or embarrassing emails, blogs, and text messages they had produced, as well as provide a link to their social networking sites so that they could be inspected.12 A story reported on MSNBC.com...