Acceptable use policies typically outline an organization’s position on how employees are expected to use agency resources, restrictions on use for personal interests, and consequences for violating the policy.

Twelve of the policies and guidelines we reviewed deal specifically with acceptable use, particularly for personal interests. The majority of these 12 policies point toward existing policies that already dictate acceptable use of common electronic and information resources such as telephone, computer, or Internet access.

However, as the use of social media in government evolves over time, acceptable use policies may need to address the blurring boundaries around personal, professional, and official agency use. In our interviews, we found that agencies are struggling with what is acceptable in terms of employees’ personal and professional use of social media. Questions commonly arise with social media use, such as how much time an employee may spend on a personal Facebook page while at work or how much time an employee should devote to participating in peer-to-peer networking on sites such as GovLoop.

Unlike the question of acceptable personal use during designated times or non work hours, the question of acceptable employee use for professional and official agency reasons remains complicated. Only three of the 26 policies have begun to address this issue.

Some government agencies draw a clear distinction between an employee’s professional use of social media and an employee’s personal use of the same tools. For example, in the City of Arvada, Colorado, the social media policy clearly states, “Social Media use is for business communication and for the purpose of fulfilling job duties, in accordance with corporate goals and objectives, not for personal use.” On the other hand, the US Air Force encourages its members to think of themselves as on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week when it comes to social media use. Others we interviewed suggested acceptable employee use for professional interest is better monitored and managed by supervisors, rather than a one-size fits all policy.