Have you got a social media policy?

An interesting report has come out of ACAS today on social media. Apparently one in ten companies don't have a social media policy, while six in ten of us are now using social media. No great surprise really - companies have form here. For example, it took an age for many companies to simply put in place internet usage policies.

The report though is a timely reminder to us all in PR and communications roles that we should be accelerating the development and implementation of social media policies. Over the last 12-18 months we have seen a number of high-profile social media incidents - Habitat and Vodafone spring to mind - so from a governance perspective a policy should be a must.  At the same time though the reputational impact (not just harm) an employee can do is phenomenal. We need to continue to educate organisations of this and ensure that they see the findings of ACAS as opportunity, not just a pain in the backside. After all we all know the positive impact social media can have on awareness and reputation if used effectively.