Social Media: Ethics and Workplace Survey from Deloitte

"While the decision to post videos, pictures, thoughts, experiences, and observations to social networking sites is personal, a single act can create far-reaching ethical consequences for individuals as well as organizations. Therefore it is important for executives to be mindful of the implications and to elevate the discussion about the risks associated with it to the highest levels of leadership."

Sharon L. Allen
Chairman of the Board
Deloitte LLP

Deloitte has recently released a 2009 survey on Ethics and Workplace in relation to Social networking and reputational risk in the workplace. With the rapid growth and acceptance of social media and networking, the ways people choose to communicate and collaborate are varied and beyond the normal control of business. Even workplace policies banning the use of FaceBook or MySpace cannot stem the personal use and chatter existing on the Internet.

"Deloitte LLP’s 2009 Ethics & Workplace Survey shows that there is great reputational risk associated with social networking as 74% of employed Americans surveyed believe it is easy to damage a brand’s reputation via sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube."

The Deloitte survey reveals that only 15% of executives have elevated this discussion to the board room, although 58% agreed that it was necessary to do so. And, more importantly, one-third of employed respondents never even considered how their boss would feel about content posted, indicating that it is none of their business (freedom of speech anyone?)

Although our natural response, as communicators, is to put policies in place to serve as guidelines for social networking and publishing, only 50% of respondents indicated that such guidelines would impact their behavior.

How does your company manage the new rules of social media?

Wendy Flanagan

AMA B2B Sig Chair
Co-President, Murray

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