Be social media-wise

Social media has changed the way we interact with friends, family and colleagues, but it has also introduced a range of new risks and challenges.

Use of social media is now a major part of our everyday lives, and so it’s vital that you are aware that oversharing sensitive information or making negative comments can cause serious problems – both for you and the business. 

Most of us regularly use social media like Facebook and Twitter to communicate and share things with our friends and family. However, it’s key to remember that social media is both completely public, and often permanent – once it’s out there, consider it out there for good.

Whatever you post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, blog sites and other social media services may be automatically shared with people you don’t know. It only takes a few seconds for messages, pictures or videos to be shared with more people then you originally intended.

What you post on social media can negatively affect you if you publish inappropriate material.  Whether it’s a message, picture or video, inappropriate content can have a real impact on the company’s reputation. If you share anything negative or damaging about the business, a colleague or customer, you could be subject to disciplinary action.

Maintaining our reputation

Remember, our key focus is to maintain our reputation and the level of trust we have worked hard to build in the UK.

Personal use of social media should only be undertaken outside of working hours. However, even outside of working hours colleagues must not use social media to share or post negative messages, images about Royal Mail Group, its employees, customers, partners, suppliers or any other aspect of the business that could be damaging to our reputation or harmful to others.

Click here for more information on our social media guidelines.