Social Media Risk and Governance

There is risk to almost everything in business and social media is no exception, so here is a book that promises to help the reader manage such risks within their enterprise.

It certainly is a different take on a familiar theme, as too many social media books tend to gloss over or downplay the risks other than the likelihood of getting a negative press. Doing social media need not be burdensome, yet it can be wise to have some “ground rules” in place. It is not just a case of watching what you say; some communications might arguably be market sensitive and thus the whole panoply of disclosure requirements become relevant. Make a mistake? Maybe it is not enough to delete it… you might need to delete it yet retain a copy. Especially if lawyers or regulators get involved.

So this book was quite a welcome, refreshing read and not at all dry and fusty as you might imagine by its title! The author takes you carefully through the whole process, from analysing potential risk and planning your social media interactions to more practical issues such as what to do when problems strike. The text is backed up by real-world examples from many top international companies.

Clearly there are some limitations: this book cannot advise you about every bit of legislation that could affect your company, as laws vary from country to country, yet it will give you enough ammunition to go looking into what may apply to you. Even multi-jurisdictional dilemmas are covered.

It is better to be forewarned and forearmed. Whilst this book is clearly aimed at the larger company, there is still a fair amount of information that can be relevant or of interest to the smaller company – it just may need a bit of downscaling and interpretation.

If you operate in a regulated industry it is possible that there are already mandatory compliance rules concerning your use of social media, although a lot of this can just be an extension of existing custom and practice. Yet still quite a few sectors have not got themselves organised and it seems that “common sense” as a policy is not necessarily in vogue. It might be better to try and have a policy ready. It need not be onerous and it could be a lifesaver. Many employees can form a bit of a blind spot when it comes to social media and whilst they don’t intentionally mean to harm the company, their lack of thought or consideration of the situation can mean that problems find them and your company. So it is better to have a clear set of rules about who can be active on social media and how such communications are used.

Reduce the risk and boost the benefit. What is there not to like? This book will help you ensure that your company’s social media presence is less traumatic. It can’t get you Facebook “likes” or Twitter “followers” but it might stop the odd lawsuit or two plus it may keep your social media followers loyal by doing the right thing.

In conclusion, an interesting book that manages to make an important yet uninteresting subject interesting. Just like insurance, you hope never to need to claim on its coverage, yet it is wise to ensure you have sought to analyse all risk and implemented damage limitation strategies ahead of time.

Social Media Risk and Governance, written by Phil Mennie and published by Kogan Page. ISBN 9780749474577. YYYY