I read a short article this morning about the fact that the Department of Defense issued its social-media policy, and essentiall gave it the thumbs up. The article goes on to discuss rules of engagement for employees’ use of social media, or lack thereof. The author puts forth The 11 Commandments of Corporate Tweeting and while these are focused on the use of Twitter in corporate America, I think the 11 are straightforward and rational, and would apply to our setting as well. A few of them are listed below.
– We can articulate the company vision in 140 characters or less, minus PR puffery and cliché.
– We are willing to give credit to cool, innovative, or thought-provoking ideas, even if coined by someone else.
– We are willing to challenge a potentially destructive position even if our position generates criticism.
BioMed 2.0 
Interesting, Leslie. In case we ever decide to issue our own social-media policy, here is a worthy of note Social Media Policy generator tool that simplifies the process of creating guidelines which respect the rights of employees while protecting the brand online. After answering a brief questionnaire the tool presents a complete Social Media Policy customized to a company. More at: http://socialmedia.policytool.net/
Also worth reading: “Should Your Company Have a Social Media Policy?” at http://mashable.com/2009/04/27/social-media-policy/