Work and Social Media: Keep Calm and Tread Lightly
Social media platforms have become a mainstream pass time. If a person is bored, he or she scrolls through the Instagram feed. However, it gets dicey when a person is at work. What to you do when you’re bored? Sit and look at your phone mindlessly until your 3pm meeting? Hmm… I think that might not be the best idea. However, all silliness aside, social media usage has become a huge issue in the work place. The big question is, should we allow employees to use it? If yes, where is the line drawn?
In my personal experience, social media is acceptable to use, but only in a way that does not distract from your work. As a social media intern, it’s pretty clear that half of my job relies on looking at my phone or my work phone, and sometimes, I fiddle with both at the same time. All though I use my phone constantly, I must always be extra cautious to not abuse my freedom to use it. For example, if I am using my personal Snapchat account instead of scheduling and creating content for the company, that would be a huge no-no. But if I was bored and I looked at my social accounts, it wouldn’t be as bad to do. It’s really all in context.
My experience may not be a single, isolated incident, but it typically is rare for a person to constantly be on her phone for both work and personal reasons. It is more common for people to occasionally check their phones, and with that, companies need to create guidelines. There are some that are understood within the context of the company, however there are other guidelines that are explicitly stated in handbooks. These guidelines often refer to what is acceptable to post. Many of these guidebooks state that the employee is a direct representative of the company and he or she must be cognizant of what is posted because it could affect the company. An example of this would be to warn employees that confidential company information should not be posted. Additionally, it would be wise for an employee to not make negative comments on the internet about the company that employs them. These are just a few examples that may be found in employee handbooks regarding social media.
Overall, I think that it is important to have these guidelines for what to and what not to post in regards to a company. I like that social media is personable, and it can share and express ideas with other people. However, there is a fine line that can be crossed when certain ideas are shared that could potentially have a negative connotation towards a person or an entity. If I had one take away from social media in the workplace, it’s tread lightly. You don’t want to dive in too deep and get stuck in a web of social media posts that have harmed one person or another.