It's good when used in such a manner that benefits everyone.

It's bad when used to do harm. Then it becomes ugly.

Charlie Plumb, a partner with the McAfee & Taft Law Firm | Tulsa, said social media — text messaging, Twitter, publicly accessible blogs and Facebook — are great communication mechanisms.

These instruments can do a great deal of good when used constructively, he said. They can help a company promote products and itself.

People shouldn't be discouraged from using social media — if that were even possible.

Everyone is learning a little bit every day, Plumb said. Employers and employees are starting to "get it."

Employers might need to get it to keep an eye on conduct. Employees have used it after bad run-ins with co-workers or employers. There is a growing understanding to be considerate and professional when using social media, especially in a work environment.

Both sides must realize the social media responsibilities.

Employers shouldn't get hung up on the technical aspect of social media, Plumb said. An employer's responsibility is to deal with conduct by putting policies together, outlining standards and putting people on notice that harmful conduct is prohibited by the company when it is done through electronic communication and social media. It means having a policy in place clearly telling employees that their employer will be monitoring electronic communication.

"If employees are put on notice and they sign an acknowledgment, the employer has the right to monitor and police website access," he said. The policy needs to go far enough so everyone understands that outside circumstances may come to the employer’s attention when someone is acting unprofessionally and inappropriately off premises and after hours. If it is found the employee has been involved in something that violates policies, harassment, confidential information or unprofessional behavior that is detrimental to the company, then they are subject to disciplinary action that can mean termination.

Monitoring social media is not limited to business hours or a five-day work week, Plumb said. This is a 24/7 activity. Employers are wrestling with the way people do things on the social media that includes texting, blogs, twitter usage on their own and outside the workplace and hours. If an employee is acting inappropriately, inadvisably or unprofessionally, it doesn’t matter when they are doing it. It is a problem for the employer.

Social media, whether blogging, face book, my space, twitter, conventional email, all sorts of electronic communication have become an avenue for potential harassment issues, defamation of coworkers, supervisors or the company as a whole, he said. Harm through defamation extends to clients and competitors.

Social media also is a method to leak trade secrets, organization plans and other data the company didn’t want public at that time.

A company dealing with someone alleging harassment, the fact that it is occurring after hours and on a supervisor’s Blackberry texting to someone they supervise presents a problem for the employer. It doesn’t matter when it happened. The fact that it occurred after hours and outside the workplace does not insulate the employer. If an employee is acting inappropriately, inadvisably or unprofessionally, if they are doing it when it comes to coworkers, the public at large or other companies, it doesn't matter.

Plumb, citing statistics in a June survey that ‘‘blew him away,’’ said more than 200 employers — or 43 percent — investigated an email-based leak in the last 12 months; another 31 percent reported firing workers for misusing email, one out of almost three, and 8 percent had fired employees for inappropriate or harmful use of social media.

"That’s double in a year and those kinds of numbers are increasing as we become more sophisticated in our electronic communication," he said. "As we become more sophisticated in electronic and social communication, those numbers will continue to increase."

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