Like? Philly courts to use social media to communicate with parties

As I was getting my shoes shined yesterday, something caught my eye. 

According to this article in the Metro Newspaper from Alexandra Wigglesworth, Philadelphia’s First Judicial District plans to use Facebook, Twitter, and text messaging to send out reminders about court dates.

The court’s shift towards embracing social media is consistent with a recent survey which shows that over half of employers believe that using social media for business purposes is a good thing. 

So, is your business communicating with employees via social media? Does your business use social media in the workplace? (Most do). Do you have a social media policy? (Nearly half of all businesses do not).

Whether you are ahead of the curve, wrestling with social media in the workplace, or are just starting to give it some thought, I have something that will help. A new book to which I contributed, “Think Before You Click: Strategies for Managing Social Media in the Workplace“, provides a comprehensive examination of the opportunities and risks of social media, with particular focus on seven areas:

• What Is Social Media?: An examination of the “Big Four” in social media (blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn): how they are used today, and what’s on the horizon for tomorrow.
• Drafting the Workplace Social Media Policy: 10 considerations every employer needs to think through before drafting and implementing a workplace social media policy.
• Hiring and Recruiting: How employers are using social media to locate, vet, and screen potential employees and new hires.
• Privacy Protections: How privacy and social media interact in the workplace, and the various constitutional, statutory and common law privacy rights implicated by social media.
• Post-Employment Covenants and Trade Secret Claims: How best to protect confidential information and trade secrets from disclosure via social networks by current and former employees.
• Litigation: How lawyers are using social media as evidence in litigation against employers.
• Labor Law: The meaning of protected, concerted activity, anti-solicitation policies, and how the National Labor Relations Board is applying these long-standing principles in an attempt to gut employers’ attempts to regulate what employees about saying about them online.

The book is available in electronic form (naturally) and a hardback is in the works. It’s the next best thing to calling me for social-media advice. (And it won’t cost you nearly as much).