Despite authoring this blog, I must confess that I always thought it would be neat if I could author a book.

I’m pleased to announce that I can check one thing off my bucket list, at least in part.

I can now announce the publication (finally) of ” Think Before You Click: Strategies for Managing Social Media in the Workplace” (in rough form, it was previously called “HR and Social Media: Practical and Legal Guidance”).

Fortunately for me with a busy practice, I merely had to contribute a chapter; the credit for the whole book is rightly placed with Jon Hyman — author of the Ohio Employer’s Law Blog — who edited the book and coordinated its publication.

This book, one of the first of its kind discussing the intersection of social media, HR, and labor/employment law, comprehensively covers the following:

  • What Is Social Media?: An examination of the “Big Four” in social media (blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn): how they are used today, and what’s on the horizon for tomorrow.
  • Drafting the Workplace Social Media Policy: 10 considerations every employer needs to think through before drafting and implementing a workplace social media policy.
  • Hiring and Recruiting: How employers are using social media to locate, vet, and screen potential employees and new hires.
  • Privacy Protections: How privacy and social media interact in the workplace, and the various constitutional, statutory and common law privacy rights implicated by social media.
  • Post-Employment Covenants and Trade Secret Claims: How best to protect confidential information and trade secrets from disclosure via social networks by current and former employees.
  • Litigation: How lawyers are using social media as evidence in litigation against employers.
  • Labor Law: The meaning of protected, concerted activity, anti-solicitation policies, and how the National Labor Relations Board is applying these long-standing principles in an attempt to gut employers’ attempts to regulate what employees about saying about them online.

I wrote the chapter on Hiring and Recruiting; but the team of contributing authors — Seth Borden (Labor Relations Today), Molly DiBianca (Delaware Employment Law Blog), Eric Meyer (The Employer Handbook Blog), Philip Miles (Lawffice Space), Rob Radcliff (Smooth Transitions), — is impressive.

If you’d like to learn more about the book, you can listen to a two-part podcast by all the authors in The Proactive Employer podcast — which can also be found on iTunes as well.

My public thanks to Jon for allowing me to contribute to the book.  Now go and download your copy today. I’ve heard it makes for good summer beach reading.