Social Media and the Workplace

Companies should consider the risk of employee use of social media in the workplace. Not enforcing a social media policy, would be inviting a disaster. A company should consider hiring or naming someone social media coordinator or manager. Businesses should conduct proper training for employees, to clear up any issues regarding official social media policies. Setting goals and outlining the parameters of the social media initiative another task. The key focus of the initiative is to define:

• Who is allowed to use social media on behalf of the organization?
• What they're allowed to say?

Informing the staff of cyber threats is something companies should consider when developing their approach to social media policies and practices.

CYBER THREATs in 2016

Did you know that?

• 90% of companies have experienced a form of external threat.
• 73% had an internal network security incident in 2015.
• 21% of businesses have lost sensitive data from internal threats in
  the past year.

• A serious data loss event, on average, can costs around $30,000 - $500,000 (Kaspersky,2016).

Top 4 Risk of Using Social Media in the Workplace

Risk #1: Use of personal accounts to communicate work-related information

• Privacy violations
• Corporate reputation damage
• Loss of competitive advantage

Risk #2: Posing of photographs or information that link users to their employers

• Brand Damage
• Corporate reputation damage

Risk #3: Excessive use of social media in the workplace

• Network utilization issues
• Loss of productivity
• Increased risk of exposure to viruses

Risk #4: Use of company devices (ex: Mobile phones) to access social networking sites

• Infection of mobile devices
• Data Theft from mobile device
• Bypassed enterprise controls (ITBusinessEdge, 2016)

Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are being used by businesses to engage with their customers, build their brands and to communicate information to the rest of the world. Businesses should take necessary precautions to make sure employees use social media on and away from the workplace. Social media for a Company isn't all about "liking," "friending," “posting" or “showing what you had for lunch.” For businesses, there are real dangers to using social media; ranging from damaging the brand, to revealing proprietary information, or inviting lawsuits.