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BUSINESSES AREN’T PROTECTING THEMSELVES AGAINST THE RISKS OF SOCIAL MEDIA:

Announcement posted by Bluewire Media 14 Jul 2010

ROSTRON CARLYLE SOLICITORS REPORT

Brisbane, Australia - The influx of businesses into the social web is not being matched by effective social media policy, a survey of Brisbane based companies has shown.

Rostron Carlyle Solicitors’key survey findings:

77% respondents use social networking sites at work

55% respondents said they don’t have a social networking policy for employees

55% said they were “definitely concerned” and over 30% said they were “concerned” about the perception of risk posed by the loss of business reputation

The results precede a recent Melbourne IT report which show businesses that use social media do better online.

Marketing Manager at Brisbane web strategy firm Bluewire Media Adam Franklin says the speed of change is greatly affecting both businesses’ hesitation to embrace social media and a widespread lack of social media policy.

“We’re finding that companies may be starting to see the benefits, and may even be dabbling in it, but they don’t have a rigorous policy in place to protect their company on the web,” he said.

“Those who aren’t using social media mostly feel that it’s too time consuming, or that they might put a foot out of line.

“But with people communicating so heavily through these channels the importance of a presence has never been greater,” Mr Franklin said.

These comments come after a US survey by Deloitte Touche LLP show 74% of surveyed employees say it’s easy to damage a company’s reputation on social media but only 22% of companies have a social media policy.

Corporate and technology lawyer Malcolm Burrows believes, that if introduced correctly, social media policies can strengthen the usual employment contract.

“Employment contracts don’t usually include provisions relating to use of social media. The addition of a binding social media policy can afford organisations some protection from unauthorised employee use of social networking sites,” he said.

Bluewire Media is conducting a Social Media for Business event, this Monday 19th July from 6pm at The Summit Events Centre in Paddington, Brisbane.

Panelists will include chairman of online security firm Netbox Blue John Fison, Malcolm Burrows and Bluewire Media’s founders Adam Franklin and Toby Jenkins.

Topics will include how to harness social media, how to protect yourself from legal ramifications and why reputation management is important. Tickets are $45 and available at http://bluewire1.eventbrite.com