As an increasing number of Americans use social media, questions on the legality of workplace policies limiting certain behaviors online have begun to arise.

As the use of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook increase, employers have implemented rules limiting what employees can say online about their workplace and employers. Some companies have implemented policies that restrict what an employee can say about co-workers. However, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled many of these policies are too broad and the restrictions illegal.

The NLRB, an independent agency of the U.S. government, mediates disputes between employees and management.

The NLRB issued its first rulings on employer social media policies in late 2012. These rulings are important because they offer guidance on what social media behaviors will be protected under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) in the future. This also affects what employers can and cannot control in their company policies and practices.

Section 7 of the NLRA permits employees to engage in “concerted activities for the purpose of collectively bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.” Because of this stipulation, employees are protected if they discuss job-related issues such as improving work conditions, benefits and wages. This also means, even on a social media site, co-workers may discuss the conditions of their employment.

Under Section 8 of the NLRA, employers are prohibited from interfering or limiting employees from exercising those rights mentioned in Section 7.

In one of its most notable cases, in September 2012, the NLRB ruled that the Costco Wholesale Corporation violated Section 8 of the NLRA by upholding a rule that forbids employees from electronically posting statements that could damage the company or any person’s reputation.

Since Costco’s policy broadly limited any statement that could negatively affect the company, the NLRB held that the policy infringed on the employee rights protected in Section 7.

In 2010, several employees of Hispanics United of Buffalo, a nonprofit social services provider located in upstate New York, were fired over their Facebook posts about complaints made by a fellow employee.

In December 2012, the NLRB ruled the employees had been wrongfully terminated. It found that the posts were the type of “concerted activity” that is protected by the First Amendment.

Employers still have limited rights to protect legitimate company interests such as confidential business information, trade secrets, or an employee’s private health details.

Placing limits on social media posts made by employees without overstepping legal boundaries remains difficult for employers. However, employees engaged in “concerted activity” via a social media site are now just as protected as when they are on company property.

Academy Award nominated actress Viola Davis known for her role as a domestic in the film The Help will speak at Texas Southern University Tuesday at noon.

The multi-talented actress played the role of Aibileen in The Help; however, a new project has her portraying a towering Texas icon and TSU’s own Barbara Jordan.

We’ll be live-tweeting the event starting at noon. Follow #TSUViolaDavis on Twitter and InStagram for Davis’ talk at TSU.

See more about Davis here.

In addition to working alongside journalism professor and seasoned multi-platform journalist Serbino Sandifer-Walker and her blog socialmediacorrespondents.net, Ware has also completed internships with The New York Times and Houston Chronicle.

“Social media is like second nature, especially for this entire generation,” said Ware. “I was always told to find ways to get paid to do things you love and I love social media so I think it is pretty cool to make it my career.”

With news-breaking events and occurrences happening within every hour of the day, social media junkies such as Ware are constantly staying aware of updates and are at most times, deprived of sleep due to the consistent flow of information and nearing deadlines.

“News happens all the time so there is no set schedule and you usually end up working long days and even longer nights. Deadlines are no joke. I have become accustomed to going each day with only about 5 hours of sleep,” said Ware. “Seasoned journalists tell me all the time that is normal in our world.”

With news media markets strategically moving from print to digital, students in the Texas Southern University School of Communication are being groomed to become the next generation of multi-platform journalists and are using their social networks and everyday devices to do so.

“You must be digitally savvy because if not then you will not be hired,” said Ware.

Social networks such, as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube have become a hub for journalists to share and exchange news events which makes them easily accessible through one’s smartphone or tablet device.

Although Houston is one of the largest urban cities in the nation, after graduation, Ware plans to move to New York City and use his multi-platform skills as a full-time social media correspondent or editor for a television network.

News in a Flash With Nailah Johnson

Emancipation Park on Dowling Street

By Cierra Duncan

The rough vocals of James Brown can be heard coming out of the ballroom. Children are cooling off while learning to swim at the neighborhood pool. Teenagers are laughing as they come out of the movie theatre.  Businesses are flourishing and the neighborhood is growing. At one point, this was the common occurrence on Dowling Street.

Today, the music has stopped.  The neighborhood park is virtually empty. The children are no longer heard laughing or playing outside. The majority of homes are run-down and many of the businesses are now closed.

“Dowling Street was once one of the major thoroughfares in Houston. It had movie theatres, department stores and drug stores. Dowling was where most African-Americans did business,” said Dr. James Douglas, Executive Vice President of Texas Southern University.

From the 1930’s into the 1970’s, Dowling Street was a center of entertainment, arts, business, and youth development in Houston’s Third Ward Community. Emancipation Park, originally the only municipal park for African-Americans, offered a community center, pool, and playground for residents of the Third Ward. The Eldorado Ballroom, a former symbol of pride within the African-American community, held dances, talent shows, and concerts, often times being the nightclub of choice for Houston’s minority population. Wolf’s Pawn Shop and Department Store, open since 1955, has been a highly regarded business throughout the years because of its involvement in community organizations and areas of service.

Emancipation Park, located at 3018 Dowling, is a historical landmark in the Third Ward community.  In 1872 Rev. Jack Yates, along with a small group of church leaders who were former slaves, raised $800 in order to purchase the 10 acres of land to celebrate Juneteenth celebrations. Dating back to 1865, June 19 or Juneteenth is the day African-Americans in Texas learned slavery was abolished.  Yates and the church leaders decided to name the land ‘Emancipation Park’ in honor of their recent freedom.

Emancipation Park was donated to the city of Houston in 1918. Racism and segregation were the prevailing social ideas of the time and Emancipation Park was the only park minorities could use.  In 1939, the Work Projects Administration added a community center to the park designed by William Ward Watkin. The new facility was dedicated at the Juneteenth celebration held on June 18, 1939.

Today, Emancipation Park has tennis courts, a basketball court, a large softball/football field, picnic area, playground, swimming pool, and community center.

Like much of Dowling Street, Emancipation Park has fallen victim to changes in the economy and surrounding communities.

“The park had been divested in for about 50 years,” said Dorris Ellis, president of Friends of Emancipation Park. “After the Civil Rights and Fair Housing laws were passed, people who cared about the park had the opportunity to go elsewhere. They did not need Emancipation Park to be there green space location. Hence, they were able to go and play and take their families to other places in the city. That meant that individuals who had more resources were no longer using the facility.”

“An upgrade to Emancipation Park will bring pride back to the neighborhood and bring people back,” said Douglas. “Very few people go there now. The park was once a hub for African Americans.”

In 2012, Mayor Annise Parker announced plans for a $33.6 million renovation for Emancipation Park. A new gymnasium, playground, basketball court, baseball field, pool house, and water features are all included in the city’s plans.

“This park has a history, and this park has a future. We just have to work to connect the two together,” said Parker at a Juneteenth press conference held at the park on June 19, 2012.

Raymond Bourgeois, an employee at Wolf’s Pawn Shop and lifelong resident of the Third Ward area, echoed Ellis’ sentiments. However, he believes current residents along Dowling Street will not be in the neighborhood to enjoy the renovated park.

Bourgeois noted the increased home construction expanding along Dowling Street bringing new residents into the area. Multi-family homes and buildings are being built and the neighborhood is slowly starting to resemble downtown Houston.

Bourgeois believes within the next 10 years Dowling Street will have a new appearance along with a new group of residents which will effect who uses the park.

“Unfortunately, those in the neighborhood now will not be here to enjoy the park. A new park will be built to satisfy those moving into the neighborhood,” said Bourgeois.

Emancipation Park is surrounded by multiple businesses that have been pillars in the community along Dowling Street. Each business not only offers a significant amount of history to the Third Ward Community but also to African-American history.

From 1939 until it closed in the early 1970s, the Eldorado Ballroom, located at the corner of Elgin and Dowling, across from Emancipation Park, was the most popular venue among African-Americans for upscale blues and jazz performances.

At its height in popularity, the Eldorado was the premiere showcase for live performances of secular music by African-American musicians.

Houston musicians Johnny “Guitar” Watson and Sam “Lightning” Hopkins got their start playing at the Eldorado Ballroom then went on to national fame. Peppermint Harris and Joe “Guitar” Hughes also launched their careers there.

Many nationally and internally known musicians also made appearances at the Eldorado. Etta James, Jimmy Reed, T-Bone Walker, Bill Doggett, and Ray Charles all headlined at the Eldorado Ballroom into the 1960s.

By the early 1970s the Eldorado’s popularity began to decline. Like much of the economy along Dowling Street, desegregation greatly affected the ballroom. The passing of the Civil Rights laws allowed African-Americans to economically branch out into formerly segregated parts of Houston and soon the Eldorado Ballroom closed.

In December 1999, The Eldorado Building was acquired by Project Row Houses, a non-profit arts and cultural organization.

The Progressive Amateur Boxing Association (PABA), located at 3212 Dowling Street, was founded in 1968 by Houston’s first fighting preacher, Reverend Ray Martin. As a non-profit community based athletic, counseling, educational and resource center, the PABA has served over 11,000 youths in the Third Ward and greater Houston area.

Boxing greats like George Foreman, Sr., Evander Holyfield, Joe Frazier, and Joe Louis the Brown Bomber all stopped by the PABA.

In 2004, Martin and the organization built a full scale boxing ring in Jack Yates High School. With this accomplishment, Martin helped to launch the first boxing academy in a Texas public high school and the nation.

Wolf’s Department Store and Pawn Shop, located at 2701 Dowling Street, has been a staple of the community along Dowling for the last six decades. Established in 1955, Wolf’s has offered the surrounding community a wide variety of products and services. From men’s clothing to antiques and artwork, the product selection and interior design are reminiscent of the department stores of the 1950’s.

Wolf’s longevity on Dowling is partially due to its “superior customer service” and relationships with frequent customers.

“Most of my clientele have moved out of the neighborhood and they come back,” said Bourgeois. “A lot of my clientele I know personally. Many of them don’t have ID’s. When they get a check no one else will cash it but us because we know that’s them.”

Today, Dowling Street may appear neglected but it was once the center of African-American activity in Houston.

Dowling Street may never return to being the center of African-American activity it once was but in time it will be revitalized into an entirely new community.

“I think Dowling Street is going to come back,” said Douglas. “There will be businesses but they won’t be owned by African-Americans.  If you look around Dowling Street there are a lot of vacant lots and boarded up houses. But, if you look just west you will see a lot of condos. Those condos are going to move down and across Dowling and pretty soon they will dominate the area. When you bring in people, you bring in restaurants. You bring in other services that those people will need. Within the next 30- 40 years we will see a transformation on Dowling Street.”

Social Media Correspondents at work

By Cierra Duncan

Social Media Correspondent

The advent and rising popularity of social media has caused those working in the media to adapt the way they do their jobs. Social media now serves as a vital tool for everything from promoting events to sharing a completed news story with a broad audience.

Social media, whether web-based or mobile-based, encourages two-way communication. Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn facilitate interactive communication between celebrities, businesses, media professionals, organizations and everyday individuals. Through various social media platforms, media professionals now have a new way of sharing relevant and important information with the general public.

“Social media provides a platform that allows businesses to directly engage with their consumers,” said Mercedes Posey, a public relations major at Texas Southern University. “The instant communication channels allow for a seamless dissemination of information and an extended reach to a much broader audience.”

Facebook and Twitter are the two most commonly used social media platforms.

Facebook is the most popular social media platform, with over 133 million active users in the United States and over 400 million worldwide. It serves as an important and immediate tool for media professionals to reach others. Users have the option of posting their own updates to their newsfeed or replying to one posted by a friend or someone they follow.

Facebook is also a useful tool in finding sources due to its ability to connect people who would otherwise not interact. Each user is searchable by their name, location, occupation, network affiliations, etc. Through Facebook, journalists and other professionals are now able to instantaneously interact with a broad audience from their cell phone or computer.

With the rise of Twitter, the media are no longer telling stories and giving information once or twice a day. Through 140 characters or a tweet, media professionals can now provide a steady stream of information continuously throughout the day that can be on any topic.

Twitter has an almost instantaneous ability to spread information to an extremely wide audience. Through the use of a hashtag, which is an important word or phrase with no spaces prefixed by a number sign, a tweet can instantly be seen by a potentially worldwide audience.

No matter the platform, social media gives media professionals an opportunity to interact with the general public. Social media not only assists people in a professional capacity, but it also gives the general public and those who would not normally be heard a voice.

Tami Latrell, Interactive One National Producer

Tami Latrell is the national editor of Interactive One, a subsidiary of Radio one and multiplatinum song writer and recording artist. Latrell will be speaking with Texas Southern University journalism professor Serbino Sandifer-Walker Thursday, April 18 via Google Hangout. To catch the conversation tune in here. To learn more about Latrell watch the our Social Media News in a Flash with Naliah Johnson.

See Social Media News in a Flash With Naliah Johnson.  Just click below.