Ultimate List of Social Media Policies, Procedures, Governance and Guidance

Posted by Ian on February 7, 2013 in Blog, Info security, Social Media | 2 comments

Social media policies have become of paramount importance as more and more people connect on-line via various social media platforms. Many organisations are now recognising the new opportunities to engage with customers, prospects and targeted communities to help raise awareness of their products and services and grow revenue.

Many organisations are also realising the potential business risks that unguided or irresponsible social media usage can have if they do not have effective social media policies, procedures, guidance or governance in place.

Employees who use social media either as part of their job or in a personal capacity, need guidance as to the company’s expectations of acceptable online behaviour, and educated in social media best practice and etiquette and adherence to social media policies that not only help protect the brands reputation but also the employee.

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The line between personal and professional social media use is blurred

Social media policies are necessary for all organisations and all employees, management and the board need to be aware of guidelines for proper use of social media at work and at home as it relates to being employed by the company. Whether you like it or not, the majority of your employees will already be using social media in their personal lives and the line between personal and professional topics is often blurred, so a well written, and well communicated set of social media policies and guidelines must make it clear to everyone of what is permissible, and what is not.

A social media policy can be the first line of defence in mitigating risk for both the employer and the employee.

A well-written social media policy should:

Provide employees with guidelines for communicating in the social and online world, clearly setting expectations on what is permissible to say or do online, thus ensuring the organisation’s representatives understand what is right and wrong and the consequences of posting obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, discriminatory or hateful content to or about another person or entity.
Provide clarity around the organisation’s values and culture for customers, employees and the public alike.
Set expectations beginning at the point of employee induction, ensuring problems are proactively prevented rather than being left to impact upon the business and afterwards require a crisis response.
Identifies who within the organisation is responsible for content control and approval.
Reduce lost time and productivity spent dealing with unauthorised usage of social media, including dealing with the consequences of conflict related to social media use.
Reduce risk and legal exposure for the business.

Social Media Policy Awareness Training

A policy is worthless if you do not provide education and awareness with every employee for following the guidelines. Do not assume that everyone has read and understood the guidelines. Instead, show them what is deemed appropriate and provide examples for acceptable and unacceptable uses of social media behaviour. If there is no one in-house to provide this training, hire someone like myself who can provide customised training and awareness programs specific of your business needs. By providing clear guidelines and parameters to your employees, you will ensure that your organisation’s brand is enhanced and that your reputation is not inadvertently damaged by misguided employee comments.

Knowing where to start to create your own social media policies, procedures, governance and guidance documents can be difficult as this area of corporate governance is relatively new.

Free social media policy downloads

Below is my list of links to over 300 free social media policies, procedures, governance and guidance resources that I’ve found on the net, feel free to follow these links and use what you find to help you build a social media policy that will help your organisation to protect your brand, and protect your online reputation.

Free Social Media Policies

About.com	Template: Blogging and Sample Social Media Policy
About.com	Template: Internet and Email Policy
ACAS	Social networking and how to develop a policy
Adam J. Copeland Report	An Examination of Ecclesial Social Media Policies
American Express Open Forum	3 Great Social Media Policies to Steal From (Kodak, Intel, IBM)
American Institute of Architects	Policy on Staff Use of Social Media
American Red Cross	Social Media Handbook for Local Red Cross Units
American Red Cross	Online Communications Guidelines
amp3	Public Relations Social Media Guidelines
Apple	Retail Blogging and Online Social Media Guidelines:
Associated Press (AP)	Social Media Guidelines for AP Employees
Astonish Results	Example Social Media Policy (for Insurers)
Australian Government	Department of Finance and Deregulation Social Media 101: A Beginner’s Guide for Finance Employees
Australian Government	Asia-Pacific Civil-Military Centre of ExcellenceStaff Guidance – Use of Social Media
Australian National Botanic Gardens	Social Media Policy
Australian Public Service Commission	Interim Protocols for Online Media Participation
Baker & Daniels	Social Media Staff Policy
Ball State University	Social Media Policy
BBC	Social Networking, Microblogs and other Third Party Websites: Personal Use
BBC	Editorial Guidelines, personal use of Social Networking
BBC	Use of Social Networking and other third party websites
BBC	Online Services Guidelines in Full
BBC News	Social media guidance
BBYO	Staff/Volunteer Presence on Social Networking Sites
Best Buy	Social Media Policy
Blue Wire Media	Social Media Guidelines Templates
Bread for the World	Online Technologies, Social Media and Bread
BT	Forum Guidelines
BT	Social Media Guidelines
Business Week	A Twitter Code of Conduct
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)	FaceBook Policy
Capgemini	Social Media Guidelines
Catholic Relief Services	Comment Guidelines for FaceBook
Centre for Technology in Government, University at Albany, SUNY	Designing social media policy for government: Eight essential elements
Charlene Li in Open Leadership	Social Media Policies Directory
Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)	Social Media Guidelines
Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)	Social Media Policies Guidelines for Consultation
Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)	Code of Conduct
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles	Share Your Story – Use and Access
ChurchM.ag	12 Tips for Developing a Social Networking Policy for Your Church
ChurchSafety.com	Simple Guide to Safe Social Media Use, Social Media Safety Self-Assessment, Using Social Media Safely
Church Tech Today	Does Your Church Have a Social Media Policy?
Cisco	Internet Postings Policy
City of Hampton, VA	Social Media Policy
City of Seattle	Blogging Policy
City of Seattle	Social Media Use Policy
Cleveland Clinic	Social Media Policy
Coca-Cola	Coca-Cola Social Media Policies
Colorado State University	Social Media Policy
Daimler AG	Social Media Guidelines
Dave Fleet	Corporate Social Media Policies eBook
Deloitte	Social media at Deloitte – Participation, communication, transformation
Dell	Online Policy
Dell	Global Social Media Policy
DePaul University	Social Media Guidelines
Doug Cornelius	Blogging/Social Internet Policy (for law firms)
E.W. Scripps	Social Media Policy
Easter Seals	Online Community Guidelines
Eastern University	Social Networking Policy
Electronic Frontier Foundation	How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)
Elizabeth Hannan	Corporate Social Media Policy Guidelines
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)	Using Social Media Internally
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)	Using Social Media to Communicate With the Public
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)	Representing EPA Online Using Social Media
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)	Social Media Policy
Eric Schwartzman	Social Media Policy Template
ESPN	Social Media Guidelines For ESPN Employees
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)	Social Media and Congregations
eWay Direct	Social Media Policy
Fairfax County, VA	Facebook Comments Policy
FedEx	Blog Policy
Feedster	Corporate Blogging Policy
Fellowship Church	Personal Website and Weblog Policies
Fellowship Church	Blogging Policy
FINRA	Guide to the Internet for Registered Representatives
Flickr	Community Guidelines
Ford Motor Company	Digital Participation Guidelines
Fudder	Netiquette
Gartner	Public Web Participation Guidelines
General Services Administration (GSA)	Social Media Policy
Georgia Tech	Guidelines for Student Blogging
Get Satisfaction	Company-Customer Pact
Gibraltar Associates	Associates Social Media Policy
GM	Blogger Policy
GM	GM Social Media Policy
Government of Catalonia	Style and Usage Guide of the Government of Catalonia’s Social Networks
Governor of Massachusetts	Governor’s Office Social Media Usage and Policies
Greater London North County	Scouting and Social Networking Guidelines
Greteman Group	Social Media Policy
H&R Block	H&R Block Response Process
Hamilton College	Social Media at Hamilton College
Hamilton County – Jobs and Family Services	Guidelines for effective use of social networks, blogs, podcasts and live chats
Harvard Law School	Terms of Use
Harvard Law School	Corporate Blogging Policies and Guidelines
Harvard University	Guidelines for Using Social Media
Headset Brothers	Social Media Policy
Hill and Knowlton	Blogging Policies and Guidelines (selected extracts)
Hill and Knowlton	Collective Conversation Code of Conduct
Hill and Knowlton	Social Media Principles
Hill and Knowlton	Pledge for Bloggers
Holy Trinity Catholic Church	Social Media Policy
Hospital Sant Joan de Deu – Barcelona	Social Media Policy
HP	Blogging Code of Conduct
IBM	Social Computing Guidelines
IBM	Case Study: The Impact of Corporate Culture on Social Media
iCrossing	Employee Social Media Guidelines
Inc. Magazine	How to Write a Social Media Policy
InQbation	Government Policy Guidelines
Intel	Social Media Guidelines
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)	Social Media Staff Guidelines
International Olympic Committee (IOC)	Blogging Guidelines for Persons Accredited at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, Beijing 2008
International Olympic Committee (IOC)	Blogging Guidelines for Persons Accredited at the XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver 2010
Iowa Hospital Association	Comment Policy
IT Business Edge	Social Media Policy and Procedures Template Download
Jaffe	Template: Social Media and Social Networking Policies and Procedures
Judith Lindeau	Template: Social Media Policy for Associations (Real Estate)
Kaiser Permanente	Social Media Policy
Kansas State University	Social Media Guidelines
Kodak	Social Media Tips
Krones AG	Tips for using social media (English and German)
L.A. Times	Social Media Guidelines
Lake Forest College	Social Media Guidelines
Laurentian University	Social Media Handbook
Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Centre	Comments Policy
LifeChurch.tv	Social Media Guidelines
LiveWorld	Social Media Content Guidelines
Lutheran Church of Hope	Digital Life Policy
Maryland Association of CPAs	Social Media Policy
Mashable.com	Should Your Company Have a Social Media Policy?
Mason, Inc.	Social Media Guidelines
Massachusetts Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs	Social Media Usage and Guidelines
Mayo Clinic	For Mayo Clinic Employees
Mayo Clinic	Participation Guidelines
Mayo Clinic	Comment Policy
Media Law Resource Centre	Compilation of Legal Actions Against Bloggers
Microsoft	Channel 9 Doctrine
Microsoft	Tweeting Guidelines and Blogging Guidelines
Missouri Department of Transportation	Post A Comment – Use Policy
Montana State University Athletics	Social/New Media Guidelines
Mosman Municipal Council (Australia)	Twitter Guidelines
National Public Radio (NPR)	NPR News Social Media Guidelines
Navitas	Social Media Policy
New Jersey Institute of Technology	Social Media Policy
New Media Project	Recommendations for Using Social Media
New PR Wiki	Blogging Policies List
New York City	NYC Social Media Customer Use Policy
New York City Department of Education	Social Media Guidelines
New Zealand Government	Web Standards
New Zealand State Services Commission	Principles for Interaction with Social Media
New Zealand State Services Commission	The Guide to Online Participation
Nonprofit Technology Network	Tips for Writing Your First Social Media Policy
Nordstrom	social networking guidelines for Nordstrom employees
North Point Church	Social Media Guidelines
Northern Lights PR	Top tips for creating an employee social media policy (PDF)
Oce	Social Computing Guidelines
Ogilvy	Ogilvy PR Global Social Media Guidelines 2010 (DRAFT)
Ohio State University Medical Centre	Philosophy on Social Media
Ohio State University Medical Centre	Social Media Participation Guidelines
Ohio State University Medical Centre	Social Media Participation Policy
Ontario College of Teachers	Use of Electronic Communication and Social Media
Open Society Foundations	Web Style Guide
Opera	Employee Blogging Policy
Oracle	Social Media Participation Policy
Orange County	County Social Media Use Policy and Procedure
Our Saviors Lutheran Church	Social Media Policy and Guidelines
Pfizer	Social Media Playbook
Plaxo	Communication (Blogging) Policy
Porter Novelli	Our Social Media Policy
Powerhouse Museum	Communication Using Public Facing Museum Blogs – Policy
PR-Squared	Corporate Social Media Policy: Top 10 Guidelines
Presbyterian Church (USA) – General Assembly	Social Media Guidelines for the General Assmebly
Province of Nova Scotia	Social Media Terms of Use Guidelines for Employees
Province of Nova Scotia	Government Social Media Policy
Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)	PRSA Social Media Policy
Queensland Government	Official Use of Social Media
Razorfish	Employee Social Influence Marketing Guidelines
Reuters	Reporting From the Internet and Using Social Media
Rhetorica	Blogging and Comment Policy
RightNow	Social Web Employee Policy
Roanoke County, VA	Social Media Policy
Roanoke Times	News Standards and Policies
ROARapp	Social Media Handbook for Churches
Robert Scoble	Press FAQ
Robert Scoble	The Corporate Weblog Manifesto
Roche	Social Media Principles
Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas	Social Media Policy
rtraction	Policy Tool for Social Media
Safe-Wise Consulting	YMCA Social Networking Policy Template
Sam Houston State University	Social Media Policy and Procedures Manual
SAP	Social Media Participation Guidelines 2009
Seattle University	Social Media Policy
Second Baptist Church	Social Media Guidelines
Sentara	Social Media Policy
Shift Communications	Top 10 Guidelines for Social Media Participation
Smithsonian Institution	Web and New Media Strategy
Social Computing Journal	Enterprise Social Media Usage Policies and Guidelines
SocialFish	Social Media, Risk, and Policies for Associations
SocialFish	Drafting Social Media Guidelines
Social Fresh	4 Examples of Social Media Policies
Social Fresh	5 Principles To Remember In Your Social Media Policy
Social Fresh	6 Elements Of A Corporate Blogging Policy
Social Fresh	How To Create Facebook Community Guidelines
Social Fresh	Template To Help You Start Your Social Media Policy
Social Media Business Council	Disclosure Policy Toolkit
Social Media Governance	Social Media Policy Database
Social Media Policy Tool	Social Media Policy Generator
SpareBank 1	Rules for Blogging
St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church	Parish Policy for External Communications
State Government of Victoria – Department of Health	Twitter Policy
State Government of Victoria – Department of Justice	Social Media Policy for Employees
State of Delaware	Social Media Policy
State of Mississippi	Social Media Policy
State of North Carolina	Best Practices for Social Media Usage in North Carolina
State of Oklahoma	Social Networking and Social Media Standards
State of Oklahoma	Social Networking and Social Media Guidelines
State of South Carolina – Budget Control Board	Social Media Policy
State of South Carolina – State Library	Social Media Policy
Sun Microsystems	Guidelines on Public Disclosure
Sun Microsystems	Alumni Blog Aggregation Additional Terms
Sunnybrook Hospital Health Sciences Centre	Social Media Commenting Policy
Sutter Health	Policy for Social Networking and Other Web-Based Communications
Sutter Health	Guidelines for Participation in Online Communities
Sutter Health	Social Media Policy
Sutter Health	Social Media Tip Sheet
Telstra	3 Rs of Social Media Engagement
Tesco.com	Social Media Policy
The Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut	Suggested Practices and Guidelines
The Law Society – British Columbia	Social media and social networking Model policy
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre	Blog Policies and Guidelines
The Well	Community Guidelines
Thomas Nelson	Blogging Guidelines
Thomson Reuters	Social Media Guidelines
TNT (Italy)	Guidelines for Officials on Social Media (Italian)
Town of Avon, Indiana	Social Media Policy
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat	Guideline to Acceptable Use of Internal Wikis and Blogs Within the Government of Canada
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat	Guideline for External Use of Web 2.0
Tufts College	Social Media Overview
Tufts University	Social Media Guidelines and Policy
U.K. Civil Service	Principles for Participation Online
U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office	Social Media
U.K. Government	Template Twitter Strategy for Government Departments
U.K. Ministry of Defence	Online Engagement Guidelines
University of Cumbria	Student Social Media Policy (Word doc)
U.S. Air Force	Air Force Blog Assessment
U.S. Air Force	New Media and the Air Force
U.S. Army	Social Media Handbook 2013 (Slideshare)
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Jacksonville District	Social Media User Guidelines
U.S. Coast Guard	Social Media – The Way Ahead
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops	Social Media Guidelines
U.S. Department of Defence	Responsible and Effective Use of Internet-based Capabilities
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development	Social Media Policy
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs	Use of Web-Based Collaboration Techhologies
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)	Blogging at EPA for Greenversations
U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)	Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising
U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) Office of Citizen Services (OCS)	Blog Policies
U.S. General Services Administration	Social Media Policy
U.S. Marine Corps	Responsible and Effective Use of Internet-based Capabilities
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration	Social Media Strategy
U.S. Navy	Web 2.0: Utilizing New Web Tools
U.S. Navy	Guidance for Official Posts
U.S. Navy	Navy Ombudsman Social Media Handbook
U.S. Navy	Navy Command Social Media Handbook
UC Berkeley Alumni Association	Community Policy
Unic	Social Media Guidelines
United Arab Emirates (UAE) Government	Social Media Guidelines
United Church of Christ – Connecticut Conference	Social Networking Policy
University of Colorado – Boulder	Social Media Guidelines
University of Essex	Social media policy
University of Houston	Social Media Policy
University of Maryland Medical Centre	Comments Policy and Blog Participation Terms and Conditions
University of Michigan	Guidelines for the Use of Social Media
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Department of Athletics	Policy on Student-Athlete Social Networking and Media Use
University of Oregon	Social Media Best Practices
University of Southern Mississippi	Social Media Policy
University of Virginia Library	Social Media Guide
US Medical Supplies	Social Media Policy
Utah State Archives and Records Service	Preliminary Guidance on Government Use of Social Media
Vanderbilt University	Social Media Handbook
Vanderbilt University Medical Centre	Social Media Policy
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	Twitter Guidelines
VIA Rail Canada	Social Media Policy
Voest Alpine	Social Media Manual I (2010)
Voest Alpine	Social Media Manual II (2012)
Volvo	Social Media Guidelines for Employees
Wake County, North Carolina	Web 2.0 Guidelines for Use
Wal-Mart	Twitter External Discussion Guidelines
Wal-Mart	Social Media Guidelines
Walker Art Centre	Blog Guidelines
Washington Post (via PaidContent.org)	Newsroom Guidelines for Use of Facebook, Twitter and Other Online Social Networks
Washington Post	Digital Publishing Guidelines
Webtrends	Social Media Guidelines
Wells Fargo	Community Guidelines
WOMMA	Social Media Policy Template
Workplace Fairness	Off-Duty Conduct
Yahoo!	Personal Blogging Policy
YMCA – West Suburban (Massachusetts)	Social Networking Policy
YMCA Houston	Social Media Policy
YMCA of Greater Rochester	Social Media Policy
YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas	Social Networking Policy
YMCA of Silicon Valley	Social Media Policy

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Sources:

Have your say

If you know of any links I may have missed, please let us know in the comments below and I’ll add them – Many thanks!

Next Steps:

If you would like help with developing your social media policies, or social media policy awareness training for your staff and management teams on how to use social media effectively while protecting your brand and reputation, or would like to book Ian to speak at your next event then:

Call Ian now on: +44 (0) 7979 593 970 or CLICK HERE> Which social media package is RIGHT for you?>

Submit a policy

About Ian McKendrick

Ian is a social media and IT Strategist, Broadcaster, and Keynote Speaker on IT Strategy, Social Media and Information Security. Connect with Ian on Google+

2 Comments

Zack March 1, 2013 at 11:43 am

Great! The perfect database for everyone that wants to have anything to do with social media. The outlines of every policy is pretty much the same but this is actually a good sign. Means that every one’s on the same page.

- Zack54 March 1, 2013 at 11:43 am
  
  Great! The perfect database for everyone that wants to have anything to do with social media. The outlines of every policy is pretty much the same but this is actually a good sign. Means that every one’s on the same page.

Ultimate List of Social Media Policies, Procedures, Governance and Guidance

The line between personal and professional social media use is blurred