According to the Pew Research Center, social networking has spread around the world with remarkable speed. In countries such as Britain, the United States, Russia, the Czech Republic and Spain, about half of all adults now use Facebook and similar websites. These are among the key findings from a 21-nation survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project from March 17-April 20. The survey also finds that global public are sharing their views online about a variety of topics, especially popular culture.
On a similar note, the New York Times Blog Journal posted this headline “After an Outburst on Twitter, The Times Reinforces its Social Media Guidelines.” Here is a portion of the memo that went out to the staff of the Times: “First, we should always treat Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms as public activities. Regardless of your privacy controls or the size of your follower list, anything you post online can easily be shared with a wider audience…Or, as the policy suggests elsewhere: When in doubt, ask yourself if a given action might damage The Times’s reputation. If so, it’s probably a bad idea.” Written by Phil Associate Managing Editor.
There are a multitude of examples, with most of them involving healthcare! Be aware of the potential risks of using social media, and especially use caution when connecting with patients online.
Time for a social media policy or maybe update your existing policy to reflect social networking in the year 2013!
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References:
http://www.pewglobal.org/2012/12/12/social-networking-popular-across-globe/
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