Page 17 - Law Academic Newsletter 2015

Social Media in the Workplace
Social media is a wonderful tool. It has opened up communication in a way never seen before and given access to information in a revolutionary way. Connectedness, free and ample available information, connectivity, exchange of ideas and putting the spotlight on unacceptable political regimes has been facilitated in ways that have changed the world.
In the words of a well-known US scenario planner, Don Tapscott, it has also made the workplace more transparent. At the click of a button, employees can tweet, Facebook, WhatsApp and post videos on YouTube to people outside of the workplace about incidents and events that would have stayed in- house in the past. The positive spin-off of this, is that organisations must live cleanly and ensure their values are in place and lived out. The negative effect, is that it raises the potential of public embarrassment, damage to reputation and leakage of confidential information faster and to a wider audience than any company would want or expect.
Not surprisingly, employees, who are confronted by their employer about a damaging post on Facebook, inevitably howl in protest that they have a right to privacy.“This is my private Facebook page, has nothing
to do with you and how dare you use the information against me?” It is an interesting social phenomenon that the younger generation appears to have a much more relaxed approach to what would be considered deeply personal and private information by their older Baby Boomer parents and bosses. Human beings are hard-wired to be social, but the older generation is accustomed to being more careful about what they choose to share with the outside world. Not only has the older generation been socialised in this way, we have never had the electronic media opening up the possibility of transparency in the way the Millennials have been exposed to.
These new platforms have proliferated in ways that make it difficult to comprehend the vast numbers of users and available websites. They have exploded too fast to keep pace. There is more information available than can ever be accessed in a lifetime. With the advent of this explosion of ways to communicate come risks that were not foreseen by workplaces and most of the reactions to it is lag-based. It is only after incidents have happened and much damage has been caused that companies are forced to look at their policies and guidelines to protect themselves.
Marleen Potgieter signing copies of her book
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