BY CURTIS THOMPSON Social Networking and the Business World

Overview What is a Social Network? What are the dangers of using Social Networks? What benefits are there, and how can businesses take advantage of them?

Definition  A social network service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people.  Many share features such as user profiles, pictures, blog entries, contacts, comments from friends and other users, groups, live video streaming, and discussions in forums.

Popular Sites Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

Facebook Website launched in February % of Facebook log in each day Utilizes user groups, organized by workplace, school, college, or other characteristics

A Few Statistics About Facebook More than 500 million active users50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given dayAverage user has 130 friends People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook There are over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages) Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events Average user creates 90 pieces of content each monthMore than 70 translations available on the site There are more than 200 mobile operators in 60 countries working to deploy and promote Facebook mobile products People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on Facebook non-mobile users. There are more than 200 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices. Since social plugins launched in April 2010, an average of 10,000 new websites integrate with Facebook every day Entrepreneurs and developers from more than 190 countries build with Facebook Platform About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States

Twitter Microblogging service, enabling its users to send and read messages called tweets Text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the user's profile page Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, compatible external applications (phones), or by Short Message Service

LinkedIn Business oriented social network founded in million users Establishes contact networks through Connections

Other Sites YouTube Flickr Myspace Clixtr Foursquare Gowalla Yelp Various blogs

Issues and Risks of Social Media Lack of IT InvolvementProductivity Issues FraudPrivacy Violations Individual VulnerabilitiesSpam MalwareLegal Risks

I.T. Oversight Cisco study found 75% of respondents’ corporations used social networks. Less than 1% of respondents reported direct I.T. involvement The user base has gotten ahead of the IT departments The drawbacks of social networks aren’t all being realized yet Usage hasn’t raised concerns about security and scalability

Individual Vulnerability Negative photos/comments and posts Phishing and social engineering Accidental information leaks

Spam Spam and Phishing attacks are becoming more prevalent in social networking. Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter have all been attacked in recent years.

Malware SN sites are a growing platform for malware and viruses In the form of spam and phishing attacks on Social Networks Employees can inadvertently bring malware into company system.

Productivity Overuse at work Addictive and time consuming Employee use policies  Restrictive or Open?

Fraud Identity Theft Impersonation Bryan Rutberg Account was hacked and one friend lost $1200 due to the scam. Facebook was unable to respond to Rutberg’s request for help.

Privacy Once information is on the internet, it is no longer private. It is difficult, to impossible, to remove statements in some platforms. Google will be adding Twitter tweets to their search results

Legal Risks Copyright Infringement Liability for employee statements Questionable Collection of Data Regulatory investigations

Benefits of Social Media RecruitingCustomer Service Increase ProductivityNews Updates NetworkingCustomer Retention MarketingAdaptation Boosted Search ListingsKnowledge Sharing

Recruiting College Students Keeping in touch with ex employees

News Updates Relevant career field news Company events and news Speed of updates

Networking Inter Office Networking Employee Groups Business Partners Make customers feel closer to the company

Marketing Establishing Clients Maintaining Contacts Finding leads Viral Marketing

Adaptation Can improve company image Shows company is up to date Gaining an edge before competition

Managing A Social Networking Policy

Have a plan Well thought out objectives Clear and formal regulations on use that best fit business needs Maximize potential and minimize risk

Incorporate IT Develop a strong strategy to implement IT oversight and participation. Scale and properly integrate social media with existing business processes to reap maximum benefits.

Educate Employees Weakest link in security is often untrained users Create formal usage policies Communicate why policies are important for the well-being of the organization and its staff.

Gather Legal Expertise Make sure all of your company’s data can be cost- effectively identified, collected, searched and produced in a legally defensible way If internal resources that combine legal and IT experience are unavailable, seek outside expertise.

Summary Social networks are simply media platforms that link us together  Growing Market  Handled Carefully Many potential dangers associated with SN’s  Potential for legal misuse  Risks of information leaks and fraud The benefits may outweigh the risks?  Potential for businesses is staggering  Must be handled with care  Formal use guidelines are necessary  Adapting to this new medium may soon be a necessity