Companies Want to Monitor Workers on Social Networks

As more employees start to use Twitter and Facebook, executives are becoming increasingly concerned with the message their digitally savvy workers are conveying to the public. A new survey from Deloitte underscores the growing role of social networks and the dilemma they present for corporations that spend huge amounts to burnish their image. The professional services firm found that 60 percent of the executives interviewed believe they have a right to know how employees portray themselves and their organizations. Employees, on the other hand, bristle at the thought that employers would monitor their online activity. Overall, about 53 percent say their social networking activities should not be any concern of their employer, although about 74 percent recognize that social networks make it easier to damage a company's reputation.

Few companies have given employees guidelines about how to use social networks. “We found a high percentage of employers who are thinking about what they should do but not a high percentage of employers who have concluded what those procedures and policies should be,” says Deloitte Chairman Sharon Allen.

Some news organizations have issued guidelines but there’s little agreement about what those rules should be. Last week, my colleague Diane Brady wrote about The Wall Street Journal’s ground rules for how employees should use social networking sites such as Twitter. Editor & Publisher noted that the WSJ guidelines included the warning that “business and pleasure should not be mixed on services like Twitter.” Editor & Publisher followed up with a report on how different newspapers have issued a variety of guidelines and quoted this policy from the Los Angeles Times, “Assume that your professional life and your personal life merge online regardless of your care in separating them. Don’t write or post anything that would embarrass the LAT or compromise your ability to do your job.”

As a reporter and an employee, I often think about what is appropriate to tweet. In my case, my Twitter account started out as a personal account and I kept it private. I didn’t use my own name for fear that my editors might not like it. While reporting a story about how companies were using Twitter for branding purposes, a number of sources convinced me to take my account public to get the most value out of Twitter. Shortly after that, John Byrne, the editor-in-chief of BusinessWeek.com joined Twitter and then published a blog post listing all the BusinessWeek writers and editors on Twitter. I feel really fortunate to work for a news organization that embraces Twitter and actually encourages reporters to use it.

Having my editors and colleagues follow me on Twitter and Facebook probably makes me more cautious. But, I'm not yet ready to abandon my personal life when I tweet. My personal life is tame and I figure if people know I have a family and a dog or that I’m a geek who saw Star Trek on opening day, it doesn’t compromise my ability to be a reporter. I hope it makes me seem human and approachable.

What do you think? Should employers have a say in what workers share on social networking sites?