Social media risks: What you should know

What are the liabilities governing blogs and other social media vehicles? Does the risk mean you should prohibit blogging by corporate officers?

With the rise of blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media, communications professionals have a wide range of options to connect with audiences. These extend beyond that of delivering a speech in an auditorium or sending an e-mail or press release to a distribution list.
Web 2.0 makes it easy to reach a worldwide audience, but the heady possibilities come with potential liabilities. Any errors in communication will be amplified. This is why many companies find the concept of social media pretty scary.

Allowing employees to blog, tweet or post Facebook updates is obviously more risky than not permitting anything outside the standard channels. Especially if those employees are C-Level executives or the CEO, where regulations exist which govern the disclosure of information by publicly traded companies.

When Web 2.0 rubs up against the staid world of investor relations, finance and legal departments there will inevitably be some friction. But rather than implement a blanket prohibition against any and all communication of corporate information, we need to be aware of the regulations and plan accordingly.