Mediaboss Marketing

ANALYSIS

Social networking in the enterprise has implications beyond the trade-off between happiness and distraction in the workforce.

Hard to control and difficult to characterise, it represents a unique vector into the heart of organisations that must be understood to be made safe.

When policy-based contextual security vendor Clearswift surveyed global attitudes towards social media within the enterprise last year, it revealed that 19 percent of companies routinely blocked access to social-networking sites and 48 percent of managers considered social media usage as being of concern.

In the UK, the exact same proportion (48 percent) of enterprises thought that the benefits of social networking outweighed the potential security risks.

This social/anti-social dilemma is set to continue alongside the consumerisation of workplace IT, with Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) being the buzzword of the day. One of the biggest problems is the security disconnect between management and employees; 50 percent of managers believe that staff are oblivious to the security concerns of social networking, but only 21 percent of employees admit they don't think about social media security issues at all. So where does the truth actually sit?

Education is key: management needs perspective on the real risks of social media use within the enterprise, while employees need to ensure that those risks are understood and controlled by acceptable behaviour.

In fact, the risks of staff engagement with social media are little different to those of using the cloud or even, when it comes down to it, CRM tools. Access, Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and compliance will apply to most enterprise situations for all of them.

If you consider security as the driver, regardless of the platform, and apply the same basic best-practice principles of data protection to social network usage as you would anything else, then you and your business should be OK. Apart from, quite possibly, the regulatory compliance angle. This will depend upon your industry sector, but posting to Facebook could easily fall into non-compliance territory if sensitive corporate data is exposed to the public internet in this manner.

Blanket bans are rarely a good idea, and in the case of access to social media at work could prove to be disastrous from a productivity angle report after report reveals employee demotivation when access to social networks is removed.

Original post:
Social networking's nasty habits

Matthew Makowski FOX 17 Producer

5:16 p.m. EDT, May 29, 2012

LANSING, Mich.

Privacy is a big word when it comes to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Now, Michigan lawmakers are making strides to give employees and students more privacy when it comes to social networking sites.

The House Energy and Technology Committee took testimony on Tuesday on legislation that would create the Social Network Account Privacy Act. The bill would ban employers and schools from requesting that employees and students provide their passwords related to their social media accounts.

Employers would be prohibited from asking an employee or job aplicant for their user names, passwords or other access information. Educational institutions would face a similar ban related to students and prospective students. It would also be against the law for employers to discipline employees or fail to hire potential applicants for refusing access to their social media accounts.

The committee hasn't voted on the proposal, but could at a future meeting.

Representative Aric Nesbitt, R-Lawton, is sponsoring the bill. He views his proposal as a way to ensure a similar type of protection in an age where that information is often stored on computers or smart phones through social media accounts.

Some lawmakers, while mostly supporting the bill, want to explore the option of allowing law enforcement agencies to screen potential employees through social media sites as part of the proposed legislation.

The National Federation of Independent Business said the majority of its Michigan members would support a bill that bars access to workers' social media accounts. The Michigan of Commerce opposes the bill.

Continue reading here:
Proposed Bill Could Limit Access To Social Networking Passwords

May 28 2012

People in Scotland use online social networking sites more than any other part of the UK, a study has shown.

The survey by BT revealed that about 48% of those using the internet in Scotland regularly access social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, compared with 20% in Northern Ireland and almost 43% in Wales.

In England, the figures are 33% in the North East, 39% in the South West and 45.7% in London.

Social networks are equal to news and current affairs websites in terms of popularity north of the border, with those sites also regularly accessed by just over 48% of Scottish internet surfers.

These sites were closely followed by information websites, such as Wikipedia, at almost 43%, and online shopping at just over 41%.

The survey, involving more than 2,000 people earlier this year, also showed that women are twice as dependent on social media as men, with 18% of women compared with 7% of men admitting they would miss social networking sites the most if the internet no longer existed.

BT Scotland director Brendan Dick said: "This research makes it clearer than ever how Scotland and the UK as a whole have embraced the internet across all aspects of life and, in particular, shows the different way UK men and women use the internet.

"People now take for granted that they can manage their life all in one place, from shopping and banking to entertainment and social media."

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Scottish News: 48% 'regularly use social networks'

Despite large-scale successes by Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, innovation in the social networking sector is alive and well.

Reid Hoffman at D

Reid Hoffman, LinkedIns co-founder and executive chairman and Silicon Valleys so-called start-up whisperer appeared onstage today with LinkedIns CEO Jeff Weiner at D: All Things Digital to speak about social networking and his investments at Greylock Partners.

I think the Valley declares old trends dead before they should be, Hoffman said. In particular, he said, with the success of various social networks, investors and entrepreneurs think its dead.

Hoffman says hes still seeing a lot more opportunities. In fact, his last two investments qualify as social: Wrapp participates in the social gifting space, while Edmodo allows teachers to create secure classroom communities.

In terms of the overall investment scene, Hoffman voiced the criticism that theres so much money chasing the same deals in Silicon Valley that, as a result, valuations are artificially high and unsustainable.

AllThingsDs Kara Swisher asked what the long-term impact of that will be, but Hoffman said he didnt know.

Im living in this boat along with you, he said.

No, Swisher corrected, shes not in the same boat. Im on land, waiting to see if you sink.

Originally posted here:
LinkedIn's Co-Founder Reid Hoffman Says Social Innovation Isn't Over

Indian cos prefer face-to-face meetings over social networking Press Trust of India / New Delhi Mar 09, 2012, 19:00 IST

Social networking sites might be catching the public's imagination but Indian companies still feel face-to-face meeting will be the most effective way to lure customers in the next two to three years, says a survey.

A study by global workspace provider Regus, conducted among over 600 senior business managers, has found that a majority of companies (62%) in India believe face-to-face networking will be the most effective way to find new customers over the next two to three years.

"Face-to-face networking remains the top new business technique, despite a 10% fall over the previous period ... The rise and rise of business social media networks mean that today they are as essential a tool to finding new customers as face-to-face interaction," Regus Global Director (Product and Business Development) Andre Sharpe noted.

However, the increasing importance of professional social networking sites such as BranchOut, Viadeo and Xing stands out in the research, also witnessed by increasing user volumes, with LinkedIn having reached more than 135 million members.

Interestingly, small businesses (65%) believe that face-to-face networking will be key to recruiting customers over the next three years, compared to only 57 of large businesses.

Besides, 59% of respondents also declare online advertising to be one of the top channels to find new customers in the next three years, up from 49% in the previous three years.

Attending trade exhibitions (46%) and public speaking at key events (34%) are also regarded as significant tools for future customer recruitment, the survey noted.

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Indian cos prefer face-to-face meetings over social networking