As social media blurs the lines more and more between personal and professional, who owns your social media contacts is an interesting question to pose.
Although the question is most likely relevant to all social media sites, it is particularly significant to LinkedIn. In an article – LinkedIn blurring demarcation lines – discussion centred around whether an employer has any claim to an employee’s LinkedIn profile or contacts.
In this particular case, an ex-employee was ordered by an English Court to hand over his LinkedIn contacts back to his former employer when he left to set up his own consulting business. Although these issues have yet to be fully tested, it is legitimate to explore these complexities.
As LinkedIn is predominately a business associated social network site, used mainly by professionals to connect, network and exchange information, the boundaries between where the personal and professional begins and ends becomes challenging to distinguish.
When connections are built around the employee’s role using company resources, the issue is problematical. In some industries, contact lists are commercially sensitive and where as in the past these particular lists would have been confidential, social media is now blurring the framework.
More and more examples are emerging of employers suing former employees when they leave for other employment opportunities. In a data and information driven economy, such contacts are extremely valuable and important to retain.
Here are some questions to pose:
- Can an employer tell an employee to remove their contacts from their profile when they resign?
- If the employee has invested personal time building these contacts, should they remain with the employee?
- Or should they belong to the employer who has perhaps provided the resources to the employee?
- Can an employer stop an employee from advertising that they are interested in “career opportunities”?
These are issues relevant to both the employer and employee and highlight the fine balance between employers encouraging employees to use social media platforms for business, but then claiming the information as belonging to the employer when the relationship ceases.
Whether an employer can claim ownership for the social media profile, the actual account or the contacts is undecided and not straightforward.
At a basic level, business contacts are more likely to belong to the employer, however, it could be argued that each case needs to be determined on its specific circumstances.
As the popularity of social media increases and it becomes more ingrained in business, these concerns will become more significant in a highly competitive world. It highlights one of the potential conflicts between employer and employee in respect to social media and emphasises the need for employers to have a strong social media policy in place.
