Ever since the explosion in popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, lawyers (and employment lawyers in particular) have spent a lot of time considering potential risks such sites present to businesses. We have focused on such issues as the excessive use of such sites during working time, how to deal with evidence of inappropriate behaviour by an employee outside the workplace disclosed on a social networking site (whether during employment or a recruitment process) and potential discrimination claims arising from conduct on such sites.
Clearly, these issues are very real for employers and are not likely to disappear. According to a recent survey, a surprising 26% of people admit to spending more than one hour a day at work on social networking sites on matters unrelated to their jobs. Similarly, 43% of employers have admitted that information or photographs they had seen on social networking sites had caused them not to hire a particular candidate. With levels of usage by both employers and employees as high as this, clearly there is ample opportunity for conflicts and problems to arise.
