Twitter co-founder to speak at The College of New Jersey

Dorsey’s discussion, “Twitter: Its Implications for Business and Beyond,” comes as businesses learn to navigate the potential risks of employees sharing workplace information on the Internet. With a few mouse clicks on such networks as Twitter and Facebook, employees can unwittingly or maliciously do harm to a company.

Harrison Wise, vice president for new media strategies with Beckerman Public Relations, in Hackensack, said workplace policies become increasingly important as social media becomes more pervasive.

“The best-case scenario is to implement social media policies with the support of human resources,” Wise said. Fair but firm guidelines can remind employees to be conscious about what they are posting online, he said.

Such guidelines may extend to employees’ personal time as well. “You don’t want photos of an employee doing body shots in Cancun appearing online,” Wise said.

As social networks such as Twitter grow as marketing tools, law firm LeClairRyan said businesses must establish controls or face potential litigation. Employee indiscretion can reveal company secrets and trigger legal complaints if social networking policies are not put in place.

LeClairRyan, which has offices in Newark, held a seminar in mid-October addressing potential legal ramifications of not establishing social networking policies for the workplace.

Leaking details about operations, spreading office rumors and sharing unflattering images of co-workers can lead to claims of discrimination and defamation, according to the firm. The firm suggests reminding employees that computer and communication equipment supplied by the company also are subject to monitoring.

E-mail João-Pierre Ruth at jpruth@njbiz.com

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