Social media has rapidly become a part of doing business in the modern world. From search engine optimisation activities through to direct marketing and customer contact, the tools of social media have become an important way for organisations to communicate with their customers or stakeholders.
However, the reputation and security risks posed by social media are also well recognised, and therefore handling social media interactions is not just the responsibility of the marketing department: senior management and risk management personnel need to be directly involved too.
Following are some of the issues of concern to organisations that can be raised by social media:
- Defamation – an organisation can be prosecuted for spreading a libel (e.g. by tweeting or re-tweeting it on Twitter).
- Control of communication channels – when an individual sets up an organisation’s social media accounts (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Google+), that individual potentially has direct control over the account and its content unless the process is managed and monitored by the organisation.
- Confidentiality – everyone in the organisation from the Board to the shop floor should be aware that comments made on social media are inherently public and the consequences of this need to be considered before releasing any post.
- Brandjacking – this involves a third party acquiring or assuming the online identity of another entity in order to take or impact that entity’s brand equity. These can be fake blogs, fake Facebook pages, tweets from a Twitter handle which has been formulated to look like it’s from the entity etc.
Actions to be considered by risk managers and/or senior management to address these issues include:
- Develop and implement social media policies reflecting the organisation’s values and covering all likely risks from social media, and ensure that employees are aware of their responsibilities under those policies.
- Ensure those authorised to post on the organisation’s social media account are aware of the defamation laws and their potential impact on the organisation if breached and that documented processes exist to set out the requirements where multiple individuals have control of an organisation’s social media account.
- Institute monitoring processes on all social media channels used by the organisation to check and report on content being released from your organisation (and remember that the social media world changes quickly).
- Ensure these monitoring processes are broad enough to also identify fake accounts which may appear on social media channels, which can be then intercepted, challenged by legal action etc.
Social media are a useful, and increasingly unavoidable, tool for contemporary organisations. Approaching the administration of them with a risk management mindset will help your organisation to maximise the opportunities arising from their use while minimising potential risks.
Please contact QRMC for more information.
