7 musts for your company’s social media policy

When your employees launch into social media, they should have their own compass, which can be guided by your social media policy, says Christopher Burgess, chief security officer and president of global public sector for Atigeo, a technology company.

Companies that don’t let employees know what’s expected of them will be in for unpleasant surprises when employees start posting on social networks.

“They’ve never taken the step to share with their employee base why it might not be a good idea to put the company’s financials out on your Facebook page,” says Burgess, who will speak in February at a Ragan.com conference on social media for PR and corporate communications.

“You can have all the policies you want, but if they stop people from engaging and doing their work, they won’t follow them.”

There are now 29 social network sites with a million or more individuals signed on every day, with Facebook alone reporting 800 million users, he says. More devices are connecting to the Internet than there are people in the world, he adds.