Comprehensive Guide to Employee Social Media Monitoring: Tools, Ethics, and Best Practices

By now, we all know social media is a double-edged sword — it can boost your company’s presence but distract your team and pose a security risk. That’s where employee social media monitoring comes in.

Who hasn’t wasted hours of their day scrolling through TikTok mindlessly? For managers, this is a big concern. However, a social media presence is a large part of growing a business. Some businesses have skyrocketed from one viral video, and positive employee posts on LinkedIn can significantly impact hiring. 

So, we can all agree that social media has a time and place in businesses, but where is the line? How do you balance transparency and trust with the need to protect your brand? 

We’re here to help. Today, we’ll discuss the tools, ethics, and best practices for effectively managing employee social media activity without overstepping boundaries. 

Why employers monitor employee social media

Social media is a big part of how people see companies — and that’s why many employers are concerned with monitoring what their employees post. It’s not about being invasive but rather protecting the company’s image and maintaining a level of professional. 

Ensuring productivity  

For employers, the idea of employees spending their day on social media while on the clock is disconcerting. By now, it’s universally agreed upon that social media platforms impact productivity. That’s why there are apps out there that help you manage your social media usage.

Most managers view social media as a time waster, but they still don’t want to invade their employees’ privacy to increase productivity. That’s why ethical productivity monitoring is becoming more common for businesses. 

Protecting company reputation

Employers also manage employees’ social media to prevent them from sharing sensitive or inappropriate content that could damage the company’s reputation. By monitoring employees’ social media posts, they can address potential issues before they escalate. This helps protect the brand from public backlash, prevent trade secrets from being released, and keep company policies private.
  

Compliance and security 

Additionally, compliance and security are key reasons for oversight. Monitoring social media activity ensures that employees adhere to industry regulations and helps safeguard against potential security threats, such as data breaches or accidental disclosures. 

This is perhaps the most important reason for having social media policies, as data breaches have massive financial consequences. According to IBM, the global average cost of a data breach is up 10% in 2024. 

As social media sites grow, so does the need for businesses to find a balance between personal expression and keeping things in check. But so do questions of ethics and legality. 

Legal and ethical considerations 

Monitoring employee online behavior can be tricky. As experts in this space, we’ve broken down the legal and moral considerations you need to be aware of when monitoring your team. Up first is legality.   

Is it legal to monitor employees’ social media? 

First and foremost, we’re not lawyers (sorry, Dad, law school seemed hard). 

We know the legal ramifications of employee monitoring, but we can’t give legal advice. If you’re worried about the legality of your employee monitoring, check out our guide and consult an expert in employment law. It’s also important to look into state and federal laws in your area.

Here’s the big picture: In many places, employers can legally monitor social media activity if it’s done on company devices or during work hours and if employees have been informed about the policy.    

Monitoring a personal social media account outside work hours or on individual devices can raise privacy concerns and violate laws protecting employees’ rights. For example, some states in the U.S. have laws that protect employees from being disciplined for off-duty activities.  

Of course, these laws differ across regions and industries, so (at the risk of repeating ourselves) consult an expert if you have any serious concerns. 

Ethical implications of monitoring

So, since the answer is yes (mostly), you can monitor employee social media usage while they’re on the clock. But is it ethical? 

That, dear friends, is a question we can’t necessarily concretely answer for you. We use employee monitoring software internally with great success. However, we put a lot of work into our policies and transparency to make it beneficial for everyone. 

We have created a clear monitoring policy for our team that we explain to prospective and current employees. From day one, employees know what will be tracked and how that data is used. They’re then given access to their own data so they can delete or remove specific screenshots or time entries.   

The ethics of employee monitoring depend on how you use it and how transparent you are with your team. It’s crucial to make employees aware of your intentions and get employee buy-in to ensure these changes aren’t met with resistance.

Tools for employee social media monitoring

After you’ve considered the implications of employee social media monitoring, it’s time to look for a tool that can help. Fortunately, we’ve got you covered. These tools are made with compliance and employee security in mind and can help you overcome the legal and moral hurdles of monitoring your team’s social media usage. 

Hubstaff

Features

• Track apps & URLs. With Hubstaff, you can monitor employee social media and internet usage with app and website tracking. This gives you a clear picture of how work time is utilized and helps identify productivity trends or areas for improvement.
  
• Automated time tracking. Hubstaff’s time tracking features allow you to measure employees’ hours on various tasks and projects. Then, you can automatically convert time to timesheets to simplify payroll. 
  
• Advanced reporting. Hubstaff offers robust reporting tools that provide insights into apps used, productivity, and employee performance. 20+ customizable reports can be tailored to your business’ specific needs to help you make informed decisions.
  
• Productivity Insights. Leverage Hubstaff Insights to delve deeper into your team’s productivity and utilization. This tool is valuable for businesses aiming to optimize workflows and improve team performance.

Pricing

• Starter: $7 per user/month
• Grow: $9 per user/month
• Team: $12 per user/month
• Enterprise: Custom pricing is available upon request

Additional add-ons:

• Insights: $2 per user/month
• Tasks: $3 per user/month
• Data retention: $2 per user/month
• More screenshots: $3 per user/month 

You can try Hubstaff’s time tracking app, free for 14 days.

Time Doctor

Features

• Web and app usage monitoring. Time Doctor tracks which websites and applications your team uses to help pinpoint distractions and improve time management.
  
• Automatic time tracking. Time Doctor effortlessly logs time spent on tasks with minimal user input to ensure accurate tracking without extra effort.
  
• Screenshots and activity levels. Periodically capture screenshots and monitor keyboard and mouse activity with Time Doctor. You’ll gain valuable insights into team productivity and focus levels.
  
• Detailed analytics. The platform provides in-depth analytics on time usage to clearly summarize how work hours are allocated across various tasks and projects.

Pricing

• Basic. $7 per user/month 
• Standard. $10 per user/month
• Premium. $20 per user/month 

Insightful

Features

• Automatic time tracking: Insightful automatically logs employees’ time on their computers and provides detailed data on their work patterns.
  
• Productivity labeling: Easily set up categories, and Insightful will classify apps and websites as productive, unproductive, or neutral.
  
• Real-time employee monitoring: Get instant, real-time visibility into what employees are working on.
  
• Screenshots and screen recording: Insightful periodically captures screenshots and records videos of employee screens to provide a clear view of their activity.

Pricing

• Productivity management: $8 per user/month
• Time tracking: $10 per user/month
• Process improvement: $15 per user/month
• Enterprise solution: Custom pricing available  

Best practices for monitoring employee social media

Once you have your tool, it’s time to think about how you can implement it in a way that ensures your team’s data is safe and they are on board with your new software. 

At Hubstaff, we created a set of guiding principles that we’ll share with you to help you build trust with your team. 

1. Transparency

To ensure transparency, we inform our team of exactly which data we collect, how often, and how we use it. Users and managers can view start and stop times, app and URL usage, and real-time activity data (with the option to delete it). Plus, our data is never sold to third parties.

2. Access

With Hubstaff, it’s clear when and how tracking begins. To start or stop the timer, users simply click the button. From there, you’ll get notifications for starting, stopping, idle time, and screenshots. Users can view time worked, activity, and app usage from their fully customizable dashboard.

Our default settings ensure users can see the same data as their managers and, once timers stop, no further data can be collected.

3. Control

Our software is designed to help companies work smarter and save time while respecting the people who make it happen. Without the need for micromanagement, you can focus on coaching and producing great work. 

That’s why we prioritize control for the end user. Instead of focusing on activity alone, we encourage leaders to measure outputs, as true productivity is about delivering quality work efficiently to support growth.

Final words

Ultimately, the decision to start monitoring employees’ social media usage is up to you. We just encourage you to be mindful of how you employ monitoring software and keep your monitoring transparent, ethical, and legal.