No Result
View All Result
SUBSCRIBE | NO FEES, NO PAYWALLS
MANAGE MY SUBSCRIPTION
NEWSLETTER
Corporate Compliance Insights
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • CCI Magazine
    • Writing for CCI
    • Career Connection
    • NEW: CCI Press – Book Publishing
    • Advertise With Us
  • Explore Topics
    • See All Articles
    • Compliance
    • Ethics
    • Risk
    • FCPA
    • Governance
    • Fraud
    • Internal Audit
    • HR Compliance
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
    • Financial Services
    • Well-Being at Work
    • Leadership and Career
    • Opinion
  • Vendor News
  • Library
    • Download Whitepapers & Reports
    • Download eBooks
    • New: Living Your Best Compliance Life by Mary Shirley
    • New: Ethics and Compliance for Humans by Adam Balfour
    • 2021: Raise Your Game, Not Your Voice by Lentini-Walker & Tschida
    • CCI Press & Compliance Bookshelf
  • Podcasts
    • Great Women in Compliance
    • Unless: The Podcast (Hemma Lomax)
  • Research
  • Webinars
  • Events
  • Subscribe
Jump to a Section
  • At the Office
    • Ethics
    • HR Compliance
    • Leadership & Career
    • Well-Being at Work
  • Compliance & Risk
    • Compliance
    • FCPA
    • Fraud
    • Risk
  • Finserv & Audit
    • Financial Services
    • Internal Audit
  • Governance
    • ESG
    • Getting Governance Right
  • Infosec
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
  • Opinion
    • Adam Balfour
    • Jim DeLoach
    • Mary Shirley
    • Yan Tougas
No Result
View All Result
Corporate Compliance Insights
Home Risk

Should THAT Be in a Personal Online Profile?

by Michael Schmidt
December 20, 2018
in Risk
smartphone with linkedin app

Mitigating a Multitude of Social Media Risks

Employees using business-oriented social media sites could be inadvertently exposing the company to a host of risks, whether by disclosing proprietary information, using a photo that captures details potentially helpful to competitors or just communicating an off-brand message. Michael Schmidt and Art Samansky provide suggestions corporations can implement to guard against myriad legal, competitive and regulatory woes.

with co-author Art Samansky

Personal profile posts on business-oriented internet sites pose potential problems for organizations regardless of whether they are publicly traded.

Proliferation of employee social media use continues unabated, as does organizations’ desire to rely on that employee use to make certain employment-related decisions. Employee use of social media, including on professional business sites such as LinkedIn, generally presents many sensitive and difficult legal issues for organizations. The comments and other posts are intertwined with freedom of speech guarantees in the nation’s Constitution (at least for public employers), employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act and other federal and state laws and regulations. As a result, these posts aren’t as easily “managed” as those for purely company-related materials.

Moreover, unless an errantly worded post is spotted by company management or the social media monitoring team or gets broad social media or mainstream/trade media attention — including going viral – many posts stay under the “corporate” radar.

One of those under-the-radar items is a profile posting on a business-focused online site. As a result, potential problems might sit unnoticed, ready to suddenly cause legal, regulatory or competitive woes for an organization. While similar problem-creating profile-wording might appear in a paper-based resume, that problematic information is likely to be seen by only a few. But online, the information is potentially exposed to many millions of eyeballs and the risk of potential damage is exponentially worse.

For example, a staff member might post her/his responsibilities at the company in a way which inadvertently includes proprietary or confidential information about finances, strategies, product developments or regulatory issues. Or the social media post might be done in a more targeted way by a separated employee violating a non-solicitation agreement the individual has with the former employer.

Likewise, the posting may have incorporated information about clients or types of clients — even if not specifically named, but identifiable — which might be useful to competitors or touch a regulatory hot-spot.

Similarly, of special concern to the information technology team, the post might include a nonpublic email address or other contact information which could enable a cyber-thief to gain access to the broader corporate computer system.

From a corporate communications perspective, the post might use phrasing which hasn’t been (and might not be) approved by an in-house marketing or public relations team, resulting in a post that is inconsistent with the company’s approved strategic messaging plans for clients, prospective clients and others, including regulators.

Among other issues, too, is the associated business-oriented photo; the individual might post her/his photo taken in an office setting, inadvertently showing something in the background which might compromise company information — a map, signage or codes.

An employee isn’t likely to upload any of this information with nefarious intent, but missteps can and do occur; companies should help themselves by taking a variety of steps, including:

  • Developing a social media policy that is consistent with the current state of the law and that appropriately balances employee rights and the rights of the employer to establish and maintain certain workplace expectations — written jointly by corporate communications, internal/external legal counsel and human resources – with specific reference to corporate-related personal profile issues.
  • Disseminating the policy to all employees (full-time and part-time), vendors and consultants.
  • Adding the policy to all contracts.
  • Providing the policy document to all new hires on day one, citing it specifically during orientation and including it in the employee handbook.
  • Setting up a process for employees, vendors and consultants to voluntarily submit these types of profiles for review to a specific corporate unit, such as communications, which, beyond spotting and discussing potential issues, may also help offer suggestions to improve the post.
  • Arranging for professional-looking profile photos to be taken free by the company.
  • Setting up a social media monitoring program that includes business-oriented sites, using internal or external staffing.

These steps won’t eliminate all problems, but they likely will avoid many.


Arthur Samansky is a Principal of The Samansky Group, an Old Bethpage, N.Y.-based corporate communications consulting firm.


Tags: Communications ManagementSocial Media Risk
Previous Post

The Growing Problem of Corporate Fraud

Next Post

The 2019 TRACE Bribery Risk Matrix Rankings for Asia-Pacific

Michael Schmidt

Michael Schmidt

Michael Schmidt is Vice Chair of the Labor and Employment Department and New York-Midtown office Managing Partner of Cozen O’Connor, a full-service law firm with 28 offices across two continents.

Related Posts

social media post conceptual collage hands and likes

Refresher on Workplace Social Media Policies as Contentious US Presidential Election Nears

by Allegra Lawrence-Hardy and Maia Taylor
October 16, 2024

Employees have a right to express their political views on social media, but that doesn’t mean employers don’t also have...

vladimir putin

Election Interference Attempts: Why They Will Still Matter After Votes Are Cast

by Mike Driscoll
October 15, 2024

Campaign attacks may simply be practice for bad actors

cubist style art of robot holding a pencil

Want to Be Part of the Generative AI Revolution? Start With Treating It Like an Assistant.

by Dave Cumberland
October 31, 2023

Integrating AI into internal communications can streamline how teams talk to each other

social risk business

Social Selling Creates SEC Compliance, Security Demands for Financial Advisers

by Chris Lehman
May 10, 2023

Social selling gives financial advisers an effective way to connect with potential clients and build a rapport with them as...

Next Post
The 2019 TRACE Bribery Risk Matrix Rankings for Asia-Pacific

The 2019 TRACE Bribery Risk Matrix Rankings for Asia-Pacific

No Result
View All Result

Privacy Policy | AI Policy

Founded in 2010, CCI is the web’s premier global independent news source for compliance, ethics, risk and information security. 

Got a news tip? Get in touch. Want a weekly round-up in your inbox? Sign up for free. No subscription fees, no paywalls. 

Follow Us

Browse Topics:

  • CCI Press
  • Compliance
  • Compliance Podcasts
  • Cybersecurity
  • Data Privacy
  • eBooks Published by CCI
  • Ethics
  • FCPA
  • Featured
  • Financial Services
  • Fraud
  • Governance
  • GRC Vendor News
  • HR Compliance
  • Internal Audit
  • Leadership and Career
  • On Demand Webinars
  • Opinion
  • Research
  • Resource Library
  • Risk
  • Uncategorized
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Well-Being
  • Whitepapers

© 2025 Corporate Compliance Insights

Welcome to CCI. This site uses cookies. Please click OK to accept. Privacy Policy
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • CCI Magazine
    • Writing for CCI
    • Career Connection
    • NEW: CCI Press – Book Publishing
    • Advertise With Us
  • Explore Topics
    • See All Articles
    • Compliance
    • Ethics
    • Risk
    • FCPA
    • Governance
    • Fraud
    • Internal Audit
    • HR Compliance
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
    • Financial Services
    • Well-Being at Work
    • Leadership and Career
    • Opinion
  • Vendor News
  • Library
    • Download Whitepapers & Reports
    • Download eBooks
    • New: Living Your Best Compliance Life by Mary Shirley
    • New: Ethics and Compliance for Humans by Adam Balfour
    • 2021: Raise Your Game, Not Your Voice by Lentini-Walker & Tschida
    • CCI Press & Compliance Bookshelf
  • Podcasts
    • Great Women in Compliance
    • Unless: The Podcast (Hemma Lomax)
  • Research
  • Webinars
  • Events
  • Subscribe

© 2025 Corporate Compliance Insights