Social media in the work place from a Swedish legal perspective, Employment & Industrial Relations Law, Committee Newsletter Vol 21, No 2, September 2011
The growing use of social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and private blogs gives rise to a number of employment law questions. One is how the employer should handle employees’ use of social media during working hours. Another is how employees use social media, for example to publicly criticise the employer or use social media in an inappropriate way by publishing, for example, racist or pornographic material. From an employer’s perspective, both positive and negative aspects of employees’ use of social media can be observed. It may benefit the company if employees are active in social media channels and market the company’s products and services, especially at a time when the line between work and the private sphere is blurred. Many companies see advantages in this regard. The working environment often benefits from a transparent approach. This type of use, however, at the same time deprives the employer to some extent of control over what is being communicated about the company.