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

AuthorAndrea York and Karinne Coombes
Pages45-73

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
whatiswebhtm l

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