1. Kurt DeMaagd Michigan State University kdemaagd@msu.edu

2.  Access by employees  Use by business

3.  Approximate half of all business completely ban access to social networking sites  90% of businesses restrict access through formal and informal mechanisms  One study found a 1.5% decrease in employee productivity among companies with unrestricted access

4. Approximately 70% of CIO’s also claim to use social networking for business

5.  A dangerous lack of precedent ◦ Unrestrained access may result in liability risk ◦ Restraining access may result in discrimination, privacy, and first amendment problems  Hence, many companies completely block access or completely ignore the problem ◦ The alternative often requires a lot of lawyers to develop an official company policy

6.  In spite of the irony, many companies ban employee access, but still use social media  Uses ◦ Primarily a marketing tool ◦ Some recruiting ◦ Some internal coordination

7.  Viral marketing ◦ People trust their friends recommendation ◦ But does that translate into corporate friends  May be better at mobilizing existing fan base ◦ Especially if there is an existing network  Some topics just work better ◦ Especially if it can be entertaining

8.  Pick your social networks carefully ◦ Don’t just assume Facebook and LinkedIn ◦ They need to match your audience ◦ It may not be a formal web site  Pick a few and do them well ◦ Many experts recommend only 1 or 2 sites  Stay current ◦ But you don’t want to be spam either

9.  Used to identify potential recruits ◦ A technology augmentation of an already common hiring approach  Used to disqualify potential recruits ◦ The more notorious use ◦ About 2/5 of recruiters google a candidate’s name ◦ Check profiles ◦ Check videos and other postings  Some privacy, discrimination, and accuracy concerns

10.  Although individual use is often discouraged, it does have some benefit  Sometimes use SNS to replace internal message boards ◦ Internally developed tools ◦ Public utilities/Facebook  Can also leverage other forms of corporate communication ◦ Email monitoring software is particularly popular

11.  A lot of concern for business use ◦ Lots of potential ◦ But corresponding liability  Most business use is more structured ◦ Primarily seen as a marketing tool ◦ But has other purposes too