57 Social Media Policy Examples and Resources

Over time I’ve found myself doing more and more foundational work for organizations looking to dip their toes into social media. One of the key elements of this work, in my opinion, is creating a social media policy that fits well with the organization’s goals, culture and risk tolerance.

But where to start?

As it happens, lots of organizations publish their social media guidelines online, ready for you to review and use yourself. Here are 57 61 great social media policy templates and resources to use when building your own. (thanks for the suggestions in the comments!)

Social Media Policies and Guidelines

Source Resource
American Express Open Forum 3 Great Social Media Policies to Steal From (Kodak, Intel, IBM)
American Institute of Architects Policy on Staff Use of Social Media
American Red Cross Online Communications Guidelines
Australian Public Service Commission Interim protocols for online media participation
BBC Use of social networking, microblogs and other third party websites
BBC Editorial Guidelines
British Telecom Social Media Guidelines
Best Buy Social Media Policy
Chartered Institute of Public Relations Code of Conduct
Cisco Internet Postings Policy
Coca Cola Online Social Media Principles
Dell Global Social Media Policy
Daimler AG Social Media Guidelines
FedEx Blog Policy
Feedster Corporate Blogging Policy
Fellowship Church Blogging Policy
Flickr Community Guidelines
General Motors Blogger Policy
Georgia Tech Guidelines for Student Blogging
Harvard Law School Corporate Blogging Policies and Guidelines
Hill & Knowlton Pledge for Bloggers
HP Blogging Code of Conduct
IBM Social Computing Guidelines
Intel Social Media Guidelines
International Olympic Committee IOC Blogging Guidelines
Jaffe PR Social Media Policy Procedures and Social Network Policy Procedures
Kaiser Permanente Social Media Policy
Kodak Social Media Tips
Krones AG Tips for using social media (English and German
LiveWorld Creating social media guidelines for your employees
Mayo Clinic Participation Guidelines
Mayo Clinic Comment Policy
Mayo Clinic For Mayo Clinic Employees
Mosman Municipal Council Twitter Guidelines
Opera Employee Blogging Policies
Oracle Social Media Participation Policy
Plaxo Communication (Blogging) Policy
Porter Novelli Blogging & Social Media Policy
Razorfish Employee Social Influence Marketing Guidelines
Reuters Social Media Guidelines
Robert Scoble The Corporate Weblog Manifesto
U.S. Air Force Blog Assessment
U.S. Air Force New Media and the Air Force
U.S. Coast Guard Social Media – The Way Ahead
U.K. Civil Service Principles for Participation Online
Yahoo! Employee Blog Guidelines

Other Social Media Policy Resources

Source Resource
Dave Fleet Corporate Social Media Policies eBook
About.com Blogging and Social Media Policy Sample
Business Week A Twitter Code of Conduct
Doug Cornelius Blogging/Social Internet Policy (for law firms)
Electronic Frontier Foundation How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)
Elizabeth Hannan Corporate Social Media Policy Guidelines
Mashable Should Your Company Have a Social Media Policy?
New PR Wiki Blogging Policies List
Nonprofit Technology Network Tips for Writing Your First Social Media Policy
Shift Communications Social Media Guidelines Template
rtraction Policy Tool for Social Media
Social Computing Journal Enterprise Social Media Usage Policies and Guidelines
Social Media Governance Policy Database
SocialFish Social Media, Risk, and Policies for Associations
SocialFish Drafting Social Media Guidelines
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I, too, appreciate the compilation, but given the recent NLRB pronouncements (See the Report of the Acting Associate General Counsel for the NLRB released yesterday at www.nlrb.gov), the key caution here is buyer beware:  this field is too much in flux to think any policy is safe from the NLRB.

Thank you Dave - a very useful resource for anyone developing their own social media marketing strategy and wanting to spread the work, share the load and know the right way to get their employees involved.

You're welcome, Terence - glad it's helpful

I am always amazed when someone shares such knoweldge, and I thank you, and many of those who commented and provided additional information.  This is something we need to work on and this is an awesome resource.  Very much appreciated.

Wonderful public service in this list of links. I will refer many to this page.  All of us have "internal" compasses of behavior for SoMe but any company more than 5 people should really have a written document since social media is as integral to our environment as credit cards, and impacts marketing, HR, recruitment, customer service and SO much more.

Great list thanks Dave - fantastic resource I will be referring to my clients. A couple of others you may be interested in: http://blandslaw.com.au/?p=578 http://mysocialmedialawyer.wordpress.com/2011/05/17/social-media-guidelines-or-policy/

Love this page. Great work Dave.

oh cool ! Thanks Dave for share this list.

Was very useful for me as a source this article Thanks Dave Fleet.

Thanks for the great list of resources.

Wow! What a great source of information. Thanks for sharing this.

Hi Dave, may I indroduce our Social Media Guidelines at Krones AG: http://www.krones.com/downloads/social_media_d.pdf http://www.krones.com/downloads/social_media_e.pdf You will find a german as well as an english version. Take care, Charles

Dave, Thanks for putting this list together. Great resource, bookmarking!

Thanks for the list, we can never have too many resources. This RT is going out to my 15,000 Twitter Followers (@tomretterbusch): RT @Don_Crowther: 57 social media policy examples and resources [link to post]

Hi Dave, may I indroduce our Social Media Guidelines at Daimler AG > http://is.gd/dMlXW Cheers, Uwe

Thanks Uwe! I've added it to the list. Much appreciated.

Our follr.com social business card Team Platform solution is a great tool for organizations to use alongside their social media policy. http://www.slideshare.net/socialgears/social-business-cards-by-follrcom Any interest, please let me know. Cheers, Mark http://follr.me/mark

Dave, Thanks for putting this list together. What an incredible resource to have readily available as companies begin to look at Social Media. I really appreciate all the work you do and prepare for us!

Dave, Always giving us great content on your site. This will be a great resource. Thanks! kk

Some more resources you could add to the list: The New PR Wiki "blogging policies list": http://www.thenewpr.com/wiki/pmwiki.php?pagename=Resources.BloggingPolicy An online tool to create social media policies: http://socialmedia.policytool.net/ The online database of social media policies (138 at last count): http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php My 2 cents...

Thanks Philippe. Two of those were already on the list, but I added the New PR Wiki one. Much appreciated!

Nice list Dave. You might want to update your link to Hill & Knowlton's policies though. Here is the up-to-date, official list of our social media principles: http://blogs.hillandknowlton.com/niallcook/hks-policies/

oh cool ! Thanks Dave for share this list.

Was very useful for me as a source this article
Thanks Dave Fleet.

Thanks for the great list of resources.

Wow! What a great source of information. Thanks for sharing this.

Hi Dave,

may I indroduce our Social Media Guidelines at Krones AG:
http://www.krones.com/downloads/social_media_d.pdf
http://www.krones.com/downloads/social_media_e.pdf
You will find a german as well as an english version.

Take care,

Charles

Dave, Thanks for putting this list together. Great resource, bookmarking!

Thanks for the list, we can never have too many resources. This RT is going out to my 15,000 Twitter Followers (@tomretterbusch):

RT @Don_Crowther: 57 social media policy examples and resources [link to post]

Hi Dave,
may I indroduce our Social Media Guidelines at Daimler AG > http://is.gd/dMlXW
Cheers,
Uwe

Thanks Uwe! I've added it to the list. Much appreciated.

Our follr.com social business card Team Platform solution is a great tool for organizations to use alongside their social media policy.

http://www.slideshare.net/socialgears/social-business-cards-by-follrcom

Any interest, please let me know.

Cheers,

Mark
http://follr.me/mark

Dave,

Thanks for putting this list together. What an incredible resource to have readily available as companies begin to look at Social Media. I really appreciate all the work you do and prepare for us!

Dave,

Always giving us great content on your site. This will be a great resource. Thanks!

kk

Some more resources you could add to the list:

The New PR Wiki "blogging policies list": http://www.thenewpr.com/wiki/pmwiki.php?pagename=Resources.BloggingPolicy

An online tool to create social media policies: http://socialmedia.policytool.net/

The online database of social media policies (138 at last count): http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php

My 2 cents...

Thanks Philippe. Two of those were already on the list, but I added the New PR Wiki one. Much appreciated!

Nice list Dave. You might want to update your link to Hill & Knowlton's policies though. Here is the up-to-date, official list of our social media principles: http://blogs.hillandknowlton.com/niallcook/hks-policies/

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