Social Networking Do's and Dont's

Carrie Podber, marketing director at GOATLANTA and founder of echaincommunity.com, recently spoke to the subject of social networking, how employers are dealing with the topic and more.

According to Podber, employers should keep the focus with their employees on utilizing business-oriented social networks for business purposes. While some of the Baby Boomer and X Generation are seeking to use Facebook for business it is really not the most effective option for business.

Podber notes the size of the company plays a factor in how you should be utilizing social networking. For medium to large size corporations with multiple offices, she encourages the use of interoffice social networks. By that, Podber means building one's own social environment within the organization that is only accessible to employees. By doing this, you provide for collaboration and interaction among employees.

According to Podber, start-up to emerging growth companies should be active in open business social networking environments. This permits these companies to collaborate with others and construct business relationships from a strategic, synergistic and revenue standpoint.

Podber notes that a number of employers are restricting access to social networking sites period. As she sees it, this action will pan out to be a mistake in the long run. Podber believes company heads should be restricting the amount of time devoted to these sites and use of social vs. business.

According to Podber, all size companies should be taking advantage of Social PR & Marketing as a way to announce to the public about their company, new product launches etc.

Finally, Podber tells employers that if you are going to allow access to Social Networks (such as Facebook & My Space), you need to be sure you are utilizng up to date virus, adware, spyware protection.

Benefits of using a social networking site

According to Podber, companies should not be restricting the use of forming relationships through the Internet or utilizing it for Marketing & PR purposes.

Podber's recommendation is to join Facebook to find one's past. As she sees it, if someone from your past should happen to be someone you can also have a business relationship with, relocate that relationship to an appropriate social business environment.

Dangers of releasing private information

One of the inherent dangers of using the Internet is losing private information to someone. Podber says that Facebook & My Space especially have taken very dangerous security measures in protecting people’s information. Hackers are constantly getting into people’s accounts and sending a virus out to users friends through their online “facemail”. Spyware & Adware are all over these sites and will continue to do so without proper security in place.

Although one is able to keep their profile “private” on these sites, there is still a limited amount of information that is displayed via searches on the net. Since these social networks are a locale for finding your past and sharing old (and new) photos, it makes it difficult to keep one's social life apart from business if you are intertwining the two.

Editor's note: Look for part two of Carrie's discussion about social networking on Thursday.