Associated Press in the US have been in the news this week after announcing a new social media policy to staff. The policy was designed to clarify what was expected of staff in their personal lives on social networks, such as Facebook, and wanted a number of fairly draconian restrictions on staff – measures such as prohibiting them from discussing anything about AP, or from holding a public political affiliation.
But the one which stuck most with staff was the requirement to monitor what their friends were writing on their profiles, and to delete anything that might ‘violate AP standards’ – in other words, you’re responsible for your friends as well as yourself. Kevin Keane, of the AP staff union, the News Media Guild, said “It is making some people cringe. It is not appropriate for a company that heralds free speech”. Read more…
posted 24/06/2009
Twitter.com is the latest social media craze to hit the UK. It’s a microblogging service – which basically means you can post short updates (tweets) about what you’re doing from your phone or computer, and keep up to date with the latest from people in your network.
Different people are using it in different ways, and many finding it opens up some great new ways to keep in touch or to make new contacts. Problem is, it’s just like any other social network in that it also opens up some very effective new ways to lose your job, if you’re not thinking about the implications of how you’re using it. Read more…
posted 25/03/2009
As Get Safe Online Week draws to a close today, we’ve got a new interactive toolkit to help improve workers’ Internet security awareness and skills. According to Get Safe Online’s 2008 Report, a worrying 66% of Internet users have the same password for multiple websites, 23% have posted confidential or personal information online, and 17% have opened email attachments from an unknown source, potentially putting themselves at risk from viruses or other malicious software.
This could have a huge impact on the firms they work for, who may stand to lose valuable commercial or customer data, or lose money through damage or downtime due to attacks, not to mention getting people into trouble – whether or not they know what they’ve done wrong.
The benefits that the Internet brings to UK business are growing every day. Social media and networking are increasingly important to people’s professional and personal lives. But employers have to put time and money into making sure their staff are aware of the dangers associated with working online, or they could just be pouring all the money they spend on the rest of their computer security systems down the drain.
So, to do something about this, we’ve got together with GetSafeOnline.org and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) to produce Not Safe For Work? – a free online toolkit for people at work in the UK. It has video interviews from industry experts, quizzes and reading lists, and can make you a personalised advice prescription, tailored to your own Internet usage.
Have a go now, it could tell you something that will save you a lot of grief.
And hey, let’s be careful out there!
posted 21/11/2008
A senior police officer has had a plum job offer withdrawn over his activities on social networking site Facebook. Inspector Chris Dreyfus of British Transport Police had been interviewed for the role of Chief Inspector at Bedfordshire Constabulary, but whilst checking references, his new employers found he’d previously been disciplined for posting details of his private life and sexuality on Facebook, and dropped him. Read more…
posted 28/02/2008
Do you like to poke your colleagues? If so, you’re not alone. Millions of people in the UK are signed up to social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, and use them to conduct their personal lives online.
However, many employers have been a bit slower to embrace the Web 2.0 revolution, and there have been a spate of stories in the press recently about companies banning access to the poster-child of social networking, Facebook. Read more…
posted 30/08/2007
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