Social Media: Whose Rights Are Protected?

In our digital age, people are increasingly using social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to share personal experiences, relati onships, opinions, and accomplishments with family and "friends." They view their Web sites as private and their right to voice their opinions or post pictures of themselves as protected free speech. Should employers have the right to terminate employees based on personal information that the employee has posted online? In most cases, the answer to this question is "no."

This section discusses the existing laws and statutes and how they do not protect prospective employees against employers screening of their Facebook Accounts. The Federal Employment Acts reviewed includes Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). In addition, the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment, the National Labor Relations Act, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act will also be reviewed. Lastly, the state Lifestyle Statutes that will be reviewed and discussed are Colorado, North Dakota, New York, Connecticut, and California.

The purpose of this literary review is to enlighten my viewers of the importance of the ethical idea of companies crossing the lines of business with your personal life, when involving social media accounts. Most of my research has operated from the ATU library using the find it tool. Furthermost, the researched information use was from peer-reviewed research journal. I will discuss includes social media cons in the work environment, if it is ethical to get fired over a post, and laws that protect both parties. Social media includes an assortment of electronic communications—most commonly networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace, Pinterest, Instagram, and the likes thereof. Social media also covers all forms of blogs, including Twitter (a micro-blog), wikis, online journals, diaries, personal newsletters, and World of Warfare and YouTube also are included under the umbrella term of social media (Lieber 2011).

Social networking has become so popular in this day and age, not just for the younger generations but throughout our every day life. Many do not know that more and more employers are using many of these social media sites to find and seek out your personal page that has nothing to do with your workspace to help assist their decision for hiring you. As CEO Tom Demello said in 2009 “I think that some of these sites out there are going to be the most expensive free websites to their career that they’ve ever seen.”

Sonya Rosenberg says it best and applies three golden rules to social media at the work place and states human resources should have a policy and procedure manual available for all employees to have access to. In addition state laws differ depending on obtaining personal passwords and sign ons to individual accounts. Interesting the language also states the company should include the needs and culture of the individual in the work environment. (Rosenberg)

In today's culture, social media is everything. People put their entire lives on social media. It is understandable why companies are antsy about the way their employees use the computer internally and externally. Some companies let their employees access their systems outside of work. In cases like this company secrets and information can be hacked and released to unknown sources. There is also, the issue of an employee sending inappropriate photos and/or emails to others while under the organization's system. The organization can be held accountable for harassment or any other inappropriate behavior. In William P. Smith and Filiz Tabak article, “Monitoring Employee E-mails: Is There Any Room for Privacy?,” they discuss that while an employee

A growing hot topic, and cause for concern is the increasing use of social media in the workplace. The landscape for communication has changed, and the line between personal and professional communications has been blurred. How will your employer manage the risks associated with the use of social media and at the same time, gain the benefits that this media form provides? While many employers were initially concerned that employees would use company time and equipment for socializing with friends, they are quickly learning that many social networks can also be used directly for work purposes.

Social media policies are put in place for the sake of ensuring the measure of responsibility of employee’s usage of social media. Platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are some of the platforms that are used my people across the nation (Russell, 2011). Information of every type and social opinions become available at the click of a button. The content that is placed in these messages is status updates can be crucial to the perception of both the employee and the company they are working for on a daily basis. These policies are enacted to ensure there is and understanding between the employee as well as the company concerning the risk that are associated with using these platforms in specific ways that may affect the company depending

The use of social media has greatly influenced how people communicate. Facebook, one of the largest social media platforms, has over one billion active users. Employers find social media both useful and challenging. Companies now have a platform to reach millions of potential users of their products for marketing purposes. The downside is their employees also have access to millions of users. In the case of Peter Whitney, Peter’s employer terminated Peter for disparaging comments about co-workers on his personal blog. He views his termination as unfair. As this technology develops, employees need to self-censor their social media to prevent termination.

The scope of this policy is intended to cover any information asset and technology owned, leased or controlled by, or operated on behalf of the Organization. The methodologies and practices of external entities that require access to the Organization’s information resources may be impacted and could be included in this scope.

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) started in July 1935 to protect the rights of employees, rather, they be union or nor-union employees (Pozgar, 2012). The employees are protected under the Act or may employ in bubble-like, rigorous goings-on in situations other than the customary union organizations and cooperative bargaining. The National Labor Relations Board regulates the employers from interfering with the rights of the employees to implement or organize and join with a groups that offers assists with collective bargaining purposes like organization union or joining one (Pozgar, 2012). The employer may not restrain, coerce or stop employees

The controversy with companies accessing individual’s social networking sites centers around the infringement of the individual’s right to privacy, access to information that is protected by law. Human resource professionals, hiring recruiters, and employer’s use of social networking sites (SNSs) checks challenges how personal privacy dealt with and the potential discovery and use of discriminatory information. Social networking sites used in job searching and employee recruitment prove that SNSs are no longer being used just for socializing. Job seekers today still have to provide qualifications, their work, education and criminal history and a background check for security clearance. Some companies claim they need more information so they can find a better fit employee for their company. This new trend by companies to do social networking site background checks of potential and existing employees raises legal and moral issues for employers. The potential for discovery of information that is protected under Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act to protect from discrimination by employers is very high. Job seekers and employees that belong to social

The 21st century world has witnessed perverted ascription to social media marketing sprouting from the fact that most people have migrated to their online cocoons. To succinctly integrate these online communities into their marketing campaigns, organizations have devised social media marketing campaigns geared towards either blogging, websites, or platforms like face book and twitter. However, there is need to adhere and evaluate the legal implications of social media marketing activities by these organizations. This paper presents responses to five questions raised on social media marketing.

With the mainstream use of social media, it seems that more people are uninhibited and lack restraint in their online communication. To some, Freedom of speech means the right to say whatever thought pops into their head whether negative, inappropriate, or hurtful without regards to the impact of their words. In this respect, consequences in the work place is on the rise for what is ‘said’ on social media. Some outcomes include employer’s needing to add social media policies, employees losing a job before getting hired, and termination. The First Amendment does not need any additional modification; what we need is to get back to manners, respect, and civility.

There are a number of governmental policies and regulations in place for employers to consider when developing, implementing and enforcing a social media policy. In contrast, the lack of a social media policy leaves an employer at a loss in regards to their avenues of disciplinary action towards employees who take to social media. The governmental policies revolve around the Constitutional right of the First Amendment and the freedom of speech. While this provides some protection for employees there are limitations and exclusions that resulted in the National Labor Relations Board stepping in and providing opinions for the legality of employer disciplinary actions regarding social media content and participation.