Social Media in and out of the Workplace: Old Laws Learn New Tricks

• Author: Andrea York and Karinne Coombes
• Pages: 45-73



Social Media in and

outoftheWorkplace

OL DL AWSLEA R NN EWT R IC KS

AndreaYorkandKarinneCoombes*

Without a doubt Canadians have embraced the Internet and social

mediawithopenar msConsiderthatasofAprilanestimatedf-

teen million Canadians hadan active Facebookaccount witha nesti-

mated nine million loggi ngonto t he siteevery dayAnd as rece ntly

reportedCanadiansspendmoretimeonlinethancitizensofanyother

countryandareincreasinglyengagedinsocialmed iaactivitiesinclud-

ingwatchingandshari ngonlinevideos

Eager to tap into multiple business opportunities organizations

havealsoembrace dsocialmedi aFromlawrmswith Tw ieraccounts

* BothofBlakeCasselsGraydonLLPTorontooceAndreaYorkisapartner

andKarin neCoombesisanassoci ateintheLabourEmploymentandPrivac y

GroupsTheauthorswouldliketot hankKateMacart neywhosepriorworkonthis

subjectwasofassi stanceindrafti ngthischapter

 SeeChrisBre ikssMindBlowingCanad ianFacebookUsageStatisticsS

Marke ting BlogMayonlineSMarketingw wwsmarketingcomSeealso

AlexMonkWhatstheBigDealwithFacebo okAStudyoftheSocialMediaUseof

CanadiansJanuaryonl ineAbacusDatahpabacusdatacawpcontent 

uploadsFacebookreportnalpdf

 SteveLadurantayeCanadaTopsGlobeinInternetUsageT heGlobeandMail

MarchonlineTheGlobea ndMailwwwtheglobeandmai lcomtechnology

technewscanadatopsglobeininternetusagearticle

 SeeforexampleBlakeCasselsGraydonLLPonTwierBlakesLawonline

hptwiercomblakeslaw

AYKC

to manufacturers with soc ial networking sites many organizations

nowhaveaninteract ivepresenceonlineInmanycasestheus eofsocial

mediaisdirect lyorindirectlyrelatedtothe workplaceAsaresultem-

ployersmuststayin formedaboutsocial mediaand itsimplicationsfor

workplaceandbusinessrelationships

Withthi srush intothe interactiveonli neworldby employeesand

employersquestionsariseastowhet herthelawhaskeptpaceIst here

agapinthelawThelawisexibleandchangesovertimethoughper-

haps nota sfast aste chn olog ycha nges Ass etout belowo ldlega lpr inci -

pleshavebeenappliedtotheus eofsocialmediaw ithminoradaptation

wherethen atureofthe socialmedia requiresLike Web wemay

bei nthe midst ofthe evolutioninto Workplace Rules  Although

thefullextentofhowsocialmediawillaectthelawhasyettobeseen 

somet rendscan be identiedIn particu larsocial media promises to

haveimplications foran employers ability todiscipline employeesfor

odutyconducta ndemployerliabilit yfortheact ionsoftheir employees

This paper will begi n with a discussion of social media a nd the

risksitmayposeforemployersItwillthenexaminerecenttrendsinthe

caselawwitha viewofidentifyi nghowoldruleshavebee nadaptedto

addressnewis suesrelatedto socialmedia Finallythepaperwil lpro-

viderecommendationsforemployerstoensurethattheycanharne ssthe

benetspromisedbysocialmediawhileminimizingitsrisks

ASOCIALMEDIAANDEMPLOYMENT

Socialmediaencompassesthewiderange ofmediathat permitindi-

vidualstoconnectwithothersandthepublicatlargeonl ineSocial

mediais markedbyus ergeneratedcontentasi ndividualscreatet heir

own online contentand share information with othersTh isin forma-

tionmayrange fromupdatesonpersonal livestoshari ngthepossibly

copyrightedworksofothersTheevolutionofInter netusersfromapas-

siveaudienceintoact ivecontributorsandpublishershascreatedwhatis

commonlyreferredtoasWeb

 SeeforexampleJohnsonJohn sonNetworksFacebookpageonlinewww

facebookcomjnj

 AlthoughWebimpliesanewversionoftheInter nettherealcha ngehasbeen

inhowpeopleusecerta insitesontheInterne ttocreatetheirowncontentSe eTim

OReillyWhatIsWebDesignPaer nsandBusinessModelsfortheNextGenerati on

ofSoftwareSeptemb eronlineOReillyhporeillycomwebarchive

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