Remember the early days of the Internet, when employers were worried about their employees wasting time “surfing the Net”? Initially, many home builders simply thought, “We must block access to this distraction from work.” Quickly, however, builders are realizing that the Internet and the increasingly popular social networking sites are valuable and indispensable tools for business and life.

We now use the Internet as a valuable resource for research, communication, connectivity to customers and business partners, marketing and advertising, and — most importantly — a venue for transacting business. And social media has become so ubiquitous that home builders not only need to allow access to employees, they also must establish guidelines and policies that will govern the effective use of these tools in the workplace and protect their company’s interests. Long gone are the days of worrying about blocking “MySpace” from your younger employees. Today’s environment calls for dedicated resources and expertise to position your business in the heart of social media venues.

There are many social media sites, but some of the most well-known and widely used include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Wikipedia, and Flickr. A few years ago, employers thought these sites were of interest only to their younger employees, but today we recognize that people of all ages and cultures actively participate in some form of social media. As an example, the graphs to the left from InsideFacebook.com show the demographics of Facebook.

Although Facebook is still used primarily as a social venue for sharing photographs, casual status updates, and personal favorites, it is growing as a resource for marketing and sharing perspectives on businesses, organizations, affiliations, and more. LinkedIn has maintained its position as a professionally oriented site for business connections, recruiting, professional knowledge sharing, etc. However, some of the Facebook-type features have been added to LinkedIn, such as status updates, sharing of links, reading lists and Twitter feeds.

This article is not intended to convey the features, applications or best tools for social media, but it is important to understand that social media plays a significant role in communication and connections for your employees and your business. Given that updates in the social media realm can quickly turn viral, it is important that you stay proactive and guide the expectations and usage of social media as it relates to your company’s image and messaging.

There are also websites that allow for anonymous commentary, such as www.glassdoor.com and www.jobvent.com. Given the confidentiality of the “poster,” it is difficult for organizations to directly address concerns or postings. However, having policies and open dialogue will encourage employees to air their grievances internally instead of externally.

Deloitte LLP’s 2009 Ethics & Workplace Survey shows that there is great reputational risk associated with social networking as 74 percent of employed Americans surveyed believe it is easy to damage a brand’s reputation via sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Additionally, the survey shows that employees don’t always consider the impact of their commentary to others: 27 percent of employees surveyed don’t consider the ethical consequences of posting comments, photos, or videos online, and more than one-third don’t consider the impact that their postings might have on their boss, colleagues, or clients.

There is no “one size fits all” policy related to social networking for home builders. You must develop a policy that meets your approach to business, business partners, culture and goals. The following tips will provide guidance for getting started and establishing a foundation of policy considerations for your organization.

Steps to Consider in Establishing a Social Media Policy for Employees:

Education and training are essential to the success of your policy understanding and adherence. All managers should clearly understand policies. All employees should be provided with comprehensive training at the time of hire and throughout their employment. Many companies require an annual review and “sign-off” of the employee policy manual. Although this is a good practice, I encourage you to review policies collaboratively. Rather than simply send out a message with the expectation of a signed form within a deadline, discuss the company policies and their importance with employees. This will not only insure clear communication, it will engage your employees in representing your business in a positive light.

These are a few areas of consideration in drafting policies related to social media. In addition, you will need to consider the technology aspects in your environment, as well as your other legal and communications practices. Involving expertise from human resources, IT, legal, marketing and communications will allow you to take a comprehensive approach to evaluation and implementation of your employee policies.

As stated earlier, there is no “one size fits all” policy. However, it is worthwhile to review policies created by other organizations to gather information and best practices that can then be tailored to your business. The website www.socialmediatoday.com has posted examples from more than 100 organizations, which will help you create the best social media policies for your company.

Jayne Phillips, SPHR, is an AVID Advisor with AVID Ratings, the leading provider of customer loyalty research and consulting to the home-building industry. Through the AVID system, home builders improve referrals, reduce warranty costs, and strengthen their brands. She can be reached at jayne.phillips@avidratings.com.