Orlando partner Rexford Stephens was quoted in the July 27, 2009, American Medical News article, "Update Employee Policies to Include Guidelines for Social Networking."
According to the article, the presence of an organization's employees on sites like Facebook and Twitter could put a practice in a dangerous position, or it could be an outlet used to its advantage. "You do have to understand it's out there and your employees are likely using it," said Stephens.
Whether to prevent employees from engaging in inappropriate activity or to use social media as part of a wider marketing strategy, the most important thing is to make the organization's intentions and expectations clear, according to the article. Stephens said social media policies bleed into other issues as well, including personal use of practice-owned computers and intellectual property protections. Rules covering these aspects also should be updated to reference social networking. It's probably a good idea to send notices to everyone on staff explaining the rule revisions, he said. How policies are enforced likely will reflect the established practice culture.
The most difficult problem to address, according to the article, is what employees do online when they are away from the office. Policies can be crafted to ensure a separation between work and personal activities. Ideally, employees also will have a disclaimer on any personal sites saying the views represented are their own and not their employer's. But, Stephens said, this is difficult to enforce within the posting limitations of Twitter.