The Dangers of Social Networking and How Organizations Can Update Policy to Protect Employees

With billions of users around the globe, social networking sites are becoming an unavoidable component of the Internet. Individuals, businesses, and other organizations all see value in establishing a social media presence online. However, as the world becomes increasingly connected to social networking sites through Internet-connected cell phones, tablet devices, and laptops, many popular social media sites encroach upon the personal and professional lives of individuals. As an IT professional for a mid-sized firm, I have seen first-hand how around-the-clock access to the Internet can open my coworkers up to the temptations and the dangers of social networking on the job. Worse, even while social networking use at work distracts employees and prevents them from forming in-person bonds with co-workers, the company has yet to develop a policy regarding the use of social networking in the workplace. Based on the evidence, social networking in the workplace is largely detrimental to the wellbeing of employees and the organization and must be prohibited through company policy in order to foster a safe work environment, protect the image of the company, and enhance network security.

What is Social Networking?

Social networking is ubiquitous to the Internet, yet for many, it evades precise definitions. Still, it is critical to gain an understanding of the characteristics that define social networking as well as the different types of social networking that are available. McKenzie (2009) provides a thorough analysis of social networking and its different applications. According to a definition provided by McKenzie, social networking is defined as “a popular way of communicating with others through online communities” (2009, p. 436). To expand on this definition, social networking sites are websites that primarily exist for the purpose of enabling users to interact with other users within the context of an online community.

Another method of understanding the concept of social networking is to examine examples of a social networking site. The first primary example of a social network is Facebook, which enables users to establish profiles, connect their profiles to friends and family, and share information, photos, and videos with specified users (2009, p. 436). Facebook is a highly interactive community that enables individuals to comment on and share the information that is provided by their friends. The second example that McKenzie considers is the LinkedIn app. As McKenzie clarifies, LinkedIn is a professional social networking site that enables individuals to establish profiles and social networks that are related to their occupation or profession (2009, p. 436). LinkedIn differs from Facebook because it offers networking primarily for work-related purposes, while Facebook offers content that is primarily for the purpose of leisure and entertainment. However, businesses and individuals can also utilize Facebook for business networking and for establishing professional relationships. The social network Twitter is similar to Facebook because it can also be utilized for both professional and personal uses. Twitter is a popular social networking site that enables users to create brief posts, called “tweets,” that are limited to 140 characters in length (2009, p. 436). A main feature of Twitter is that it enables a rapid exchange of ideas and communication among users. Finally, McKenzie considers the less commonly known website Ning. As McKenzie establishes, Ning is a social network site that enables users to create their own social networks that are centered on commonly shared areas of interest, such as sports or hobbies (2009, p. 436). Ning demonstrates the flexibility of social networks and the ability of social networks to be adapted to the specific needs of users.

The significance of social networking can be understood by examining the extent of social network use in society. Citing the Pew Internet & American Life Project Study, McKenzie asserts that 35 percent of all adult Internet users have at least one profile on a social networking site (2009, p. 436). While the age demographics can vary, research suggests that younger individuals are still the dominant users of social media sites. According to the survey, 75 percent of young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 years of age possess at least one social media profile (2009, p. 436). Additionally, the research demonstrates that 57 percent of those who are between the ages of 25 to 34 years possess a social media profile, and 30 percent of those between 35 to 44 years of age possess a profile (2009, p. 436). Regardless of the age of the social media user, research highlights the prevalence of use among all users. It is estimated that 40 percent of those who own social media profiles check their profiles every day while only 23 percent check their profiles every other day (2009, p. 436). As the figures demonstrate, social networking among adults is expected to increase greatly as teenagers come of age and today’s young adults replace the older demographics.

The Benefits of Social Networking

Overall, social networking provides positive benefits for both individual users and professionals. The first benefit of social networking is that it enables individuals to keep in touch with their friends with little effort (2009, p. 436). Because social networking accounts are free to open and quick to check, there is little barrier that prevents individuals from joining a social networking site. Additionally, there are benefits for the professional to keep in mind. Those with professional goals can utilize social networking to locate professional contacts who share their interests or goals (2009, p. 436). LinkedIn is a primary example of this benefit because it enables individuals to solely connect with others based on their professional connections. Further, social networking is useful for businesses because it enables businesses to build relationships with customers through social media sites (2009, p. 436). Facebook is a primary example of this potential because it enables businesses to build a profile that can be “liked” or shared by loyal consumers.

Naturally, because social networking holds these benefits, it has many legitimate uses within the workplace setting. For example, Crisp (2008) asserts that the importance of social network sites to the public makes it critical for businesses to properly harness this technology to reach out to consumers (p. 15). When used for professional reasons, social networking use on the job can yield great benefits for employers. For example, IBM sought to foster social media use when it provides 15,000 members of its staff with blogs and avatars on Second Life, another popular social media site that enables individuals to interact in a virtual online world (2008, p. 15). Additionally, social networking is considered essential for reaching out to specific demographics. For example, it is increasingly becoming standard practice to utilize social networking as a method of reaching out to consumers between the ages of 18 to 24 years of age (2008, p. 15). As large companies are recognizing, encouraging employees to utilize social media sites on the job can be beneficial for increasing the online presence of a company.

The Disadvantages of Social Networking

However, despite the documented advantages of social networking, there are detrimental aspects of social media use that must be considered by businesses. The first consideration that must be made is the impact of social media on the individual employee. Just as businesses must consider how traditional workplace hazards, such as the handling of questionable materials, will impact the welfare of the employee, businesses must also proactively determine how social media impacts workplace safety. The primary health ramification of Internet use that is of primary concern is addiction. For employers who wish to require their employees to blog or utilize social media on the job, there are risks to the employees that must be considered. According to Ayas and Horzum (2013), individuals who increase their use of the Internet are more likely to misuse the Internet and form symptoms of Internet addiction (p. 283). The act of restructuring one’s personal and professional life in order to utilize the Internet can cause individuals to become more vulnerable to developing an addiction to the Internet (2013, p. 283). Because of the addictive nature of Internet use, employees must be cautious that their encouragement of social networking use does not pressure employees to spend excessive time on the Internet while they are at work.

In addition to causing addictive behaviors, social networking sites also hold the consequence of causing adverse psychological effects in the individual user. In addition to gaining an addiction to Internet use, individuals who spend increased amounts of time on the Internet risk reduced levels of self-esteem and social interaction. As Ayas and Horzum notes, technology has a demonstrated adverse impact on the ability of individuals to feel a connectedness with other human beings (2013, p. 284). Further, younger Internet users face difficulties talking to others in-person and developing friends as their use of the Internet increases (2013, p. 284). These findings are not only significant on an individual level, but they are also significant at the organizational level. If a country enables employees to spend excessive amounts of time on the Internet, they do so at the risk of decreasing overall organizational morale. As employees spend more time on the Internet, there is an increased risk that their interpersonal skills will decline. This is significant because communication, teamwork, and morale are among the factors that impact the workplace environment and the success of the organization. Thus, the detrimental impact of social networking on the mental health of employees can also undermine the health of the workplace environment.

Organizations must also consider the consequences of improper use of social networking. Because social networking enables individuals to interact with others rapidly, there is also a filtering process that is bypassed when individuals communicate messages to the public. At the individual level, employees face the risk of sharing too much of their own personal information when they participate on social networking sites. As Lim et al. (2012) note, the key reasons that individuals are compelled to utilize social networking sites such as Facebook are for the reasons of self-expression, the need for attention, and popularity (pp. 9-11). As the researchers determined, these motivations can cause individuals to share excessive amounts of information that are inappropriate to share. For example, they found that individuals who sought networking sites for the purpose of self-expression were likely to utilize wall postings and updates to provide other users with detailed information on their lives (2012, p. 11). While over-sharing information might be embarrassing to the employee on a personal level, the habit can pose risk for the company. For example, an employee who broadly complains about the company on their Facebook status risks tarnishing the company’s reputation in front of millions of consumers. Additionally, an employee who fails to separate his or her private motives for attention through social networking risks carrying these habits into their professional role as an online representative for the company. The result is that the company risks the employees' over-sharing sensitive information for attention or accidentally divulging inappropriate information to others through social networking.

Baker (2013) further discusses the professional ramifications of utilizing social networking sites. Though Baker considers how social media impacts the profession of nursing, her perspective is applicable to a wide range of industries. A primary risk of social media is that it can result in nurses violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act when they post or share information about employees out of frustration or stress (2013, p. 504). As Baker’s example considers, the personal use of social networking by an employee can have professional ramifications that impact the entire organization. For example, a supervisor might be held liable for posting a negative remark about the performance of an employee. Further, an employee could possibly commit an act of harassment by disparaging a fellow coworker through his or her social media account. An act that an employee commits on his or her personal account especially becomes a gray area when the employee utilizes his or her smartphone or laptop at work to engage in inappropriate conduct over the Internet. As Baker’s treatment of social media demonstrates, there are even professional ramifications to the manner in which one utilizes their private account on or off the job.

A final consideration that must be made is the impact that social media use has on the network security of an organization. As Weir, Toolan, and Smeed (2011) note, social networking sites are a conduit for illicit behavior. As the researchers note, large social media sites such as Facebook enable criminals to access large pools of data that enable them to commit crimes (2011, p. 40). While criminals are able to gather information on organizations and individuals who use social media, they also are able to utilize other Internet resources to coordinate criminal activities. For example, through mapping software, such as the street view in Google maps, those with criminal intentions can stake out a location they plan on robbing while planning their method of entry and escape (2011, p. 40). The implication of this case example is that information that might seem innocent, such as providing the physical address of a business online, could be an invitation for those who wish to commit a crime against the business. This possibility becomes even more concerning in organizations where dozens or even hundreds of employees are utilizing social networking as part of their position.

In addition to accidentally providing assistance to criminals, employees might fail to understand the methods of online crime prevention. Moore, Clayton and Anderson (2009) identify several common methods that criminals use to victimize individuals and businesses over the Internet. For example, criminals can obtain bank cards, PIN data, or electronic banking passwords and sell this information to other criminals for a fee (2009, p. 4). Yet, while these activities seem alarming, they also provide an opportunity for IT and business professionals. By remaining aware of the methods that criminals adapt to steal information online, organizations can help employees understand what activities to look out for when they are using the company computer. Further, IT professionals can strengthen organizational security by establishing firewalls and implementing further security measures that monitor, detect, and remove threats to network security.

Changing Policy to Address the Dangers of Social Networking

This report will consider how the benefits and disadvantages of social networking impact my own work environment. Currently, I am employed as an IT professional in the sales department in a medium-sized firm. I handle sensitive data on the job that could potentially be compromised by the wrongful use of the Internet. A major threat within my organization is the wide proliferation of computer use. Both IT professionals and sales staff have constant access to the computer and Internet connection. In addition to having access to their own personal computers, individuals in the organization also possess smartphones and tablet phones that enable them to connect to the company’s wireless Internet network on their mobile devices. As can be predicted, this environment leaves room for abuses of Internet use by employees. Employees constantly utilize social media for personal use while they are at work. Further, the company operates a Facebook profile that is operated by the sales staff on a rotating basis. Several individuals take turns monitoring the Facebook profile and posting status updates during their shift to engage social media followers.

The first area that is adversely impacted by the availability of social media on the job is the organizational atmosphere. During lunch breaks and during work, employees often use the Internet to update their personal social media accounts or use other personal Internet resources. This decreases the interpersonal skills of employees in the organization. Because my department involves sales, the decrease in interpersonal skills has implications for the performance of the department overall. When sales staff is using their phones to utilize social media at work, they are distracted from the needs of sales prospects and are often less assertive about closing sales. Since the proliferation of mobile phones to access the Internet over the past three years, the organization has witnessed marked decreases in its performance goals.

The second area that is adversely impacted by the availability of social networking sites on the job is professionalism. Employees spend a significant amount of time sharing status updates with other coworkers. Further, in the past month, management has received negative feedback from inappropriate status updates on the company's Facebook page. In each case, employees attempted to make jokes that were not readily understood by customers online. The ability of employees to impact the image of the company through their social networking practices has been underscored by these past incidents.

The final area that is adversely impacted by the use of social networking within the organization is security. Currently, there are no procedures in place defining what information is safe and what information is not safe to share through the company’s social media accounts. Additionally, employees are unskilled in determining which activities should warrant suspicion online and what type of social media activities compromise the security of the network. Because the staff is untrained, it is highly likely that they will engage in high-risk behavior online without having knowledge of the impact of their actions.

The primary weakness that the organization possesses is its lack of a written policy on the use of social media. While the company has disclaimers on insider trading and cooperating with competitors, it lacks guidelines that specifically pertain to the personal and professional use of social media. The company must address both of these components of social media use in order to reduce the threats associated with social media use. In order to address the negative impact that increased social media use has upon the individual employee and company morale, restrictions must be placed on the use of social media outside of one’s business duties. By decreasing the time that individuals spend using social media on the job, many of the negative psychological effects of Internet use can be minimized. Further, the company should ensure that employees are not required to spend more than two hours during the weekday attending to the company's Facebook page. Shortening the length of Facebook use on the job can prevent employees from becoming addicted to the Internet as a result of workplace activities.

Further, company policy must educate employees on the impact that their personal use has on the company’s image. Guidelines must be set to instruct employees on the proper use of social media. Further, prohibitions must be placed to prohibit social networking behaviors that could incur liability for the company, such as writing harassing statements about other employees while at work and working in a supervisory capacity. In addition to discussing appropriate behavior, the company must set policies that determine what information is permissible to share about the company and what activities are likely to breech company security. By establishing firm policies, the company can prevent many negative aspects of social networking use from adversely impacting the organization.

Discussion and Conclusion

Social networking sites are a mainstay on the Internet that have both positive and negative implications for business. Among the positive implications of social networking, companies can utilize their online presence to communicate with consumers and increase sales. Social media benefits both professionals and organizations by facilitating relationships and connections with friends and the public. However, the detriments of social media deserve serious consideration by organizations. First, the increased use of the Internet has negative psychological effects that impact the overall morale of the organization. Second, the use of social networking serves to potentially endanger the image of the company when employees use either their personal accounts or the company account to broadcast inappropriate information to the general public. Third, social media poses security risks for the organization, making it vulnerable to criminal activities. In order to subvert these risks, it is necessary for organizations to draft clear social media use policies that educate employees on the dangers of social media use and the policies that are in place to minimize these dangers.

References

Ayas, T., & Baris, H. (2013). Relation between depression, loneliness, self-esteem and internet addiction. Education, 133(3), 283-290. Retrieved from http://www.proquest.com

Baker, J. D. (2013). Social networking and professional boundaries. Association of Operating Room Nurses. AORN Journal, 97(5), 501-6. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aorn.2013.03.001

Crisp, D. (2008). What HR needs to know about social media. Canadian HR Reporter, 21(20), 15-16. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/220809438?accountid=14068

Lim, W. M., Ting, D. H., Puspitasari, M., Prasetya, I., & Gunadi, S. (2012). Overexposure in social networking sites. Journal of Research for Consumers, (22): 7-14. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1288623309?accountid=458.

McKenzie, A.B. (2009). What about social networking? The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 40(10): 436-7. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/223310252?accountid=458

Moore, T., Clayton, R. & Anderson, R. (2009). The Economics of Online Crime. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 23 (3): 3-20

Weir, G.R.S., Toolan, F. & Smeed, D. (2011). The threats of social networking: Old wine in new bottles? Information Security Technical Report, 16 (2): 38-43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.istr.2011.09.008