The continued rise in popularity of social media is spurring questions and raising potential issues beyond the legal profession as well, across sectors as diverse as education and healthcare, to name a few.

A look back at the past year alone points to the emergence of privacy concerns around employees’ use of social media as well as other impacts social networking can have on brand reputation, employee and customer data protection and legal standing. And, even as far back as five years ago, concerns were already being raised that laws were not keeping up with the advent of such new mechanisms for sharing opinions and information.

In the classroom and on campus
Across academia, issues related to social networking range from teachers posting student information—as illustrated in a U.S. incident where inappropriate comments were shared online and another where a former award-winning teacher shared first-graders’ photos and details—both of which resulted in the teachers’ resignations. Other issues include weighing such decisions as limitations of school-day use of social networking and out-of-school monitoring of what faculty, staff and students are sharing online.

Media reports regularly highlight the struggles administrators face in the way such sites are used by staff and students alike.

One report published by the American Association of Pharmaceutical Colleges provides a history of such concerns—including a review of students suspended for threatening remarks or admissions of drug or alcohol use made on social networks and a well-publicized case of a college student who was refused her teaching certification due to online posts. Dating back to 2007, the report highlights the history of growing questions and concerns around appropriate use of social media by students and academics.

The association’s American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education has recommended educators in that sphere consider “the possible emergence of an ‘e-professionalism’ concept; legal and ethical implications of using online postings in admission, discipline and student safety decisions; how online personas may blend into professional life” as well as other key areas.

This summer in Australia, meanwhile, media reports described the hiring of Internet monitoring companies to review public posts by students on social networking sites because, as one administrator put it, "Our school policy now extends the concept of the school playground to any environment in the social media platform where a student of the school or a teacher is identified by either name, image or inference."

And at this year’s UK National Union of Teachers conference, educators were warned of the dangers of connecting with students and sharing information on social networking sites. One expert urged teachers not to "friend pupils on social networking sites,” advising them to be "sophisticated" in their use of social networking in a time when employers are known to use online search engines and social networking sites to glean information on employees and job candidates.

Health, wellness and social networking
In the patient privacy arena, medical personnel and hospital administrators are also grappling with social networking use questions.

Examining the results of a study released earlier this year on how 10 diabetes-focused social networking sites specifically function, “the Web is a notoriously difficult sphere to regulate with respect to issues of privacy, information security and honesty in advertising,” InformationWeek reports.

In a feature for Healthcare IT News, David Harlow writes  of the importance of making such decisions as what terms and conditions will be because, he notes, “There are clearly things to be concerned about when embarking upon the implementation of social media tactics in the service of broader strategies and organizational goals.”

In November, meanwhile, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, which provides accreditation for more than 19,000 U.S. hospitals, weighed in on a related issue—stating it is "not acceptable" for medical professionals to share patient information via text message.

Issues of patient information being shared via social networking—both in cases where policies were violated or did not exist—have raised concerns across the globe.

In the UK, for example, a recent report by the Belfast Telegraph details one incident where a medical staff member was dismissed after posting a patient’s photograph on Facebook.

Australia's Pulse IT Magazine reported recently on the increased use of social networks to connect with patients but cautions that “social networking tools could also pose some serious security threats to businesses if not wisely used.”

The report refers to a study indicating that, as of 2010, 70 percent of Australia’s doctors were using Facebook, highlighting the “awkward situation when their patients add them as ‘friends’ on Facebook and wish to discuss their medical issues. Health professionals need to be aware of the professional and legal issues introduced by using social media to interact with their patients.”

Across the sectors
There is another piece to the social media puzzle.

As David White writes in a November feature for Law Technology News, “As social media and mobile devices and apps ("social-mobile") continue to proliferate in the corporate enterprise, these new forms of collaboration and information sharing are putting a new spin on compliance issues…from preventing trade secrets from leaking on Facebook to the ethics of monitoring current and potential employees in and out of the workplace.”

In addition to the policies organizations and corporations are considering to address workplace social networking and the potential for breaches, risks can also come in the form of “social-mobile” marketing, he notes.

He recommends a line of defense against such risks that privacy professionals shared in multiple sessions at the IAPP Privacy Academy earlier this fall—that of communication between departments.

Or, as the experts who shared their insights at the Privacy Academy noted in advising organizations of ways to avoid becoming targets of lawsuits, the key considerations include choosing partners wisely; being aware of the risks of new online features; providing notice and choice options before changed policies take effect and staying current on legal and businesses changes.