StaySocialSafe

Today we had a superb social media training session for our staff with Jonathan Bradley from StaySocialSafe.

Staysocialsafe is a social media service provided by Participate. It is here to help professionals use social networks and remain safe with their reputations untarnished. This service has been designed to give professionals the training and expertise they need to use social media at work without getting themselves or their employer into disrepute (often by accident).

The training and briefing service is designed to ensure that:

• Staff understand how they should use social media at work and at play
• Staff know how to manage security settings and behaviour to protect their private lives
• Organisations to do not lose key staff through a lack of understanding of safe behaviour in social media
• Organisations protect themselves from inappropriate social media broadcasting by staff.

The Staysocialsafe courses are designed to ensure that employees and employers are up to date with social media policy, security and safety requirements. Fundamentally it’s about making sure employees know how to behave and the risks they are potentially exposed to. 

The briefing was excellent and there was something for everyone to learn - from the Facebook addict to the people who barely use the internet!

Here are some of my learning and action points to take away from the session:

Using Social Media

• Employees can be held legally responsible for online content written about their employer
• Remember - it's SOCIAL media - like gossip!
• Search for yourself and clean up!
• Add a disclaimer - your tweets are your own.
• If you make a mistake - correct, acknowledge, apologise.
• Choose friends and followers carefully.
• Don't use social media when you are drunk!
• If you are in a position of responsibility you have given away some of your social media freedom. Employers have rights to act on what you do. They probably don't want to - so be social safe.
• Keep track of tags, retweets and mentions.

ICT Leadership

• We need a Social Media Policy (separate to the Acceptable Use Policy)
• A training course should be given to new members of staff
• The Social Media Policy should:

• Be about DOs as well as DON'Tss
• Explain the type of information employees can share and what should remain confidential.
• Cover personal use of social media during working hours.
• Give guidance on using social media as part of a professional role.

School Leadership

• Treat electronic misbehaviour in the same way as non-electronic behaviour - with pupils and with adults.