WOW! We kicked 2012 off in style with the help of some great panelist and an awesome and engaged audience, both in person and on the live stream. We gave away the book Get Bold from Sandy Carter to @libz. I am in the process of reading this book and I highly recommend it; we’ll be doing a book review here later this month. Thank you to all who participated including our visiting guests, @autoschieber, (from Hamburg, Germany) @basilpuglisi (from Long Island, NY), both of whom where in Hawaii for PubCon Paradise.
Our panelists covered some many angles of consideration when creating a social media policy including internal culture, employee relations and the all important legal perspective. We covered considerations and decisions about social media from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the implications of their findings. We had some great conversation about ownership of social media accounts in light of last year’s PhoneDog case as well as hiring employees who already have a significant social media presence. Â In the end, all the panelists agreed every company should have a social media policy that empowers the use of social media that is consistent with your internal cultural, have clear expectations, have a policy with teeth but also make the discipline progressive and consistent with a variety of factors and finally include good ‘ole common sense into your policy.
During our meeting several resources were mentioned that we promised to share with our audience and those who couldn’t make it live and in person:
US Chamber of Commerce – Social Media Policies Before the NLRB
Altres Social Media in HR Whitepaper (free)Â
Policy Recommendations from Connye Harper Page 1, Page 2
Social Media Policy Examples:
Sample Social Media Policy Courtesy of ManPower
Airforce Social Media Policies
Navy Social Media Posting Policies
Federal Agency Social Media Usage Guidelines
Catch the recording of this very insightful discussion
Again, a special “thanks” to our brilliant panelists for their fantastic insight and guidance.
Ryan K. H
ew, Attorney at Law @rkhewESQ
Ryan focuses his practice on assisting small businesses in Hawai with a passion for  technology and intellectual property issues. He sits on the Technology Committee Member at Hawaii State Bar Association is a graduate of Gonzaga University School of Law. Ryan also holds an MBA from Gozonga University.
David Bower, Director of Business Development, Altres 
In 2010, Altres issued a white paper on the topic of creating a social media policy. As a graduate for Massachusetts Institute of Technology, David has worked for high tech companies for over 25 years. David will speak to what’s changed since that paper was issued and how he is seeing employers create policies that work for them.
Sylvia Dahlby, Rainmaker, Smart Search @SylvieDahl
Sylvia is a technology early adopter, having worked in the technology and recruiting industries since 1978, she’s seen it all. Since the advent of social media, she’s seen lots of businesses use social media for recruiting and communication. She’s the organizer of Social Media in HR Bootcamp, a member of Society of Human Resources Management-Hawaii and a PRO member of SMCHI. Sylvia joined us via Skype from the “Big Island”, Hawaii.
Connye Harper, Consultant, Mediator, Investigator at Harper Strategies, LLC @harperstrategy
With over 35 years experience in labor and employment law Connye has helped many different businesses implement policies, practices and programs which comply with federal and state laws and regulations. She is on the Board of Directors of Society of Human Resource Management-Hawaii and a PRO member of SMCHI. Since 1976, she has been a member of good standing with the State Bar of Michigan.
About Tara Coomans
[...] be sure to sign up for a seat at my talk next week on Social Media and the Law. If you missed How to Create a Social Media Policy with Social Media Club Hawaii last week or you made it and still have questions this is a good talk [...]