Are the risks worth it?

Risks of Social Media

Face book , Twitter and Linken In, as well as a number of other social networking sites have been all the rage for people to connect and interact. Businesses have created fan pages, with face book icons on their websites as well as other marketing material that says “follow us on twitter.” It has become a whirlwind experience, with millions using these networking sites to communicate, and while they host a plethora of benefits, what are the risks for businesses in using these outlets?

At what level is the information shared on these network sites private? Information on face book for example is encrypted and saved, and never really “deleted” even when removing the face book page. Is valuable customer information being shared or leaked out for others to obtain? One of the biggest problems on the internet is “phishing” or cyber hacking, where accounts are hacked into by another unknown individual, used for sending out spam, scams, or stealing of personal information. If business sites were to be high jacked, what information could be taken, altered, or distributed that could put the company and or it’s clients at risk?

Another risk is the inability to control what postings are placed on the walls of face book, or through the twitter threads. Fans on these sites can post discriminating information, bad reports, that will be made to the public to view. Deleting such comments can also hurt the businesses as well by showing an inability to tolerate criticism. With the ability to tag people and businesses in status updates, an upset customer can tag the businesses and blast their dissatisfaction to hundreds of their friends at one time, thus making the bad word travel even faster.

Social media can be a great additional marketing tool for any business. But all businesses need to take into account the risks that are at hand prior to setting up their accounts to ensure their success and privacy. And while every business venture has it’s risks, these risks should only take part in how you are interacting in the cyberspace, and not prevent businesses from partaking at all.

Sources

Increase RSS.com “What Risks do Businesses Face When using Social Media?“ (Sunday, February 6th, 2011) Retrieved on February 18, 2011

http://increaserss.com/what-risks-do-businesses-face-when-using-social-media