CIO — As Google (GOOG)+ grows in popularity—now with more than 20 million users—the new social network is triggering a number of questions with legal implications from businesses about potential policy changes, data retention issues and more, according to Joshua Kubicki, senior director of legal and corporate practices at Applied Discovery, an e-discovery provider that works with corporations preparing for and responding to legal actions.

"Google+ changes things by expanding things," Kubicki says. "This isn't just another platform, it's Google's platform, which brings up a lot of issues surrounding privacy like what information Google collects and how they use that information, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Consumers are constantly trading off privacy to gain products, innovations and services."

To prepare for the potential surge in Google+ interest, Kubicki offers five recommendations that businesses should consider when allowing employees access to Google+ from within the enterprise and on enterprise-issued devices.

1. Include Google+ in Your Social Media Policy

Social media policies and acceptable-use policies are important to businesses for a number of reasons, including ensuring that employees understand which behaviors are and are not appropriate, as well as potential consequences.

Just because Google+ is new, doesn't mean businesses should ignore it, says Kubicki. "Legal tends to see a lot of cases of businesses that ignore social media. Instead, they need to be sure they're addressing social media use and specifically including Google+ in their policy."

Here are a few things to consider when updating your policy: Should you allow access to everyone, or select groups? Are employees allowed to disclose where they work? What about company-issued devices such as mobile phones? And, with the advent Google+ Circles, what information can they share privately and publicly?

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Kubicki says it's important to note that not everyone understands how to use Google+ privacy controls just yet. And unless you do, you likely think that sharing a post with a circle means only those people can see it. The reality: the members of your circle can actually reshare your post with their circles, and before you know it, your post is no longer private—one reason why it's so important to address all angles of a platform in your policy.

2. Train Employees in Your Policies

The actions you take surrounding social media within the enterprise shouldn't stop solely at creating a policy. The next step—one that most businesses don't take yet is, perhaps, the most important, according to Kubicki— training employees in your policies.

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