Articles: Social Media: The risks
Date Added: 02/03/2012 @ 2:33pm
In the past few years, there has been an absolutely massive rise in the use of social networking websites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
In the past year a huge number of small businesses and start-ups have started to take advantage of this media as a way of reaching their customers. In fact, the number of SME's taking up use of these websites rose to 91% in 2011, according to a survey carried out by recruitment website PeoplePerHour.com.
However, according to a recent article on SmallBusiness.co.uk as many as "half of business managers are unaware that they carry legal liability for their social media content".
It is the ease and speed at which information can be shared with the world that has some business owners worried, with 74% of those questioned having banned their employees from using social media in the office altogether.
"Social media is troubling organisations much as email did a decade or so ago," says Iron Mountain's Head of information security, Christian Toon, "It’s new, it generates huge volumes of unstructured data, and that makes it hard to control."
3 in 4 small business owners that were questioned in a study by information management firm Iron Mountain, stated that they consider social media posts as a form of official business records but over a third described the way they use it as either ‘chaotic’ or ‘unmanaged’.
It's the risk of exposure from (albeit largely unintentional) leaks of confidential data, that has a lot of companies feeling threatened - since in theory, every blog entry, tweet or wall post could be considered to be an official ‘record’ which needs to be kept and your organisation held accountable. It should be mentioned, though, that the law in relation to social media is still constantly changing and its application is very inconsistent and unclear.
Despite these legal challenges, social media is something that businesses can't afford not to be a part of, as long as business owners understand their legal obligations.
Iron Mountain recommends that business owners differentiate between social media for business and personal use by setting up official ‘business’ accounts, which will make it easier to make the destinction between personal and professional posts.
If you want more information about Social Media, please see our article "Does your business need Facebook". If you need help setting up accounts with Social Media or help you to keep your social media websites up to date, get in touch.
Sources: SmallBusiness.co.uk: SMEs Oblivious to Social Media Pitfalls and SmallBusiness.co.uk: SMEs flock to Social Media