A practice note aimed at facilitating an understanding of some of the potential risks of social media has been published.
The purpose of the document is to provide guidance to individuals and legal practices engaged in, or considering whether to engage in, social media activity.
It examines the value of the use of popular professional networking services such as LinkedIn and considers the use of forums and comment spaces such as Twitter and Facebook.
The guidance includes proposals on how to handle:
- Posting comments and opinions
- The potential blurring of boundaries between personal and professional use
- Privacy settings
- Confidentiality
- Defamation
It also provides a list of suggestions on what a social media policy should include.
The practice note, which will be of interest to those in FE and HE who are evaluating social media, can be accessed on the Law Society website at - http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/productsandservices/practicenotes/socialmedia.page