Social media networking lets news travel faster than ever and is presenting a new challenge for employers.

The power of social media to quickly organise groups is not only a public order issue, but a policy topic for employers and opinion formers.

Facebook, YouTube and Twitter can fire out text, images and video that spreads around the world in minutes.

For an employer, workers can mobilise faster than ever, and this was proved in the East Lindsey oil refinery disputes where protests were orchestrated via web sites like shopstewards.net and text messaging.

A new report, Social media and its impact on employers and trade unions, reveals social media  escalated a local dispute to 20 other construction sites overnight.

The paper also recommends that employers, negotiators and arbitrators should agree a social media networking policy from the outset so talks can continue in a free and open environment without anyone fearing the details are widely broadcast.

The findings conclude inappropriate social media networking such as Twitter and Facebook can threaten privacy within organisations during normal working as well as in crisis management situations.

ACAS chief conciliator Peter Harwood, co-author of the report, said: “Social media is already changing the conduct of industrial disputes. The spread of digital activism leads to a bigger impact, but it also presents trade unions, employers and the authorities with more volatile demonstrations and means it’s tougher to control action that involves disparate but well organised groups.

“I have actually sat in talks where one of the parties has been tweeting about them. It is the speed, immediacy and reach of social media tools that distinguish them from other forms of communication and can threaten both confidentiality and carefully communicating the outcome of ACAS talks.”

The white paper is part of ACAS guidance on social media networking in the workplace.

The report also considers how employers can use social media networking to communicate more effectively with workers as well as customers through marketing.

Harwood’s co-author Stuart Smith said: “Many organisations are now beginning to use social media tools to engage with their workforce. However, the adoption of this varies from organisation to organisation and from function to function. Corporate functions such as HR have often been slower to grasp the implications of social media on their world than say marketing or communication departments.”

A copy of the guidance is available from http://www.acas.org.uk/socialnetworking

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