Member Avatar for MktgRob

Are there any industries where most if not all of social media and community building is a no-no? The big one I can think of right off the top of my head would be military contractor. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

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As and pointed out, the core issue is not “social media = bad” but risk: when public posts can create legal, privacy, safety or export-control exposure, companies must change how they use social channels. The question to answer is “what risk am I exposing by publishing this?” rather than “can we have a Facebook page?”

Industries to consider beyond the obvious regulated/confidential sectors include services aimed at children (COPPA exposure), gambling and gaming (age and jurisdictional licensing), alcohol/tobacco advertising (strict limits), export‑controlled technology (ITAR/EAR), critical‑infrastructure operators (grid, water—operational security), aviation/nuclear adjacencies, and cryptocurrency platforms (money‑transmission, KYC/AML obligations). Each carries different legal and operational triggers that make an open social strategy risky.

A practical path for any company that must decide: perform a quick compliance map; list data/classes that can’t be public; define allowed social use cases (corporate news, recruiting, gated support); build a simple approvals and archiving workflow; apply technical controls (restricted accounts, age‑gating, private communities); train spokespeople and maintain an incident playbook. Treat every public post as a record that can be audited or litigated.

Quick checklist to drop into planning:

  • inventory sensitive information and applicable rules;
  • pick one measurable use case for social and limit scope;
  • require legal/comms signoff for policy breaches or off‑script statements;
  • implement archiving and retention for any account used in a regulated context;
  • prefer closed, authenticated portals for client support when confidentiality matters.

When in doubt, err on the side of control: a minimal, factual public presence plus gated/verified channels for customers gives visibility without unnecessary exposure.

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Member Avatar for InsightsDigital

Not only military but I also believe in other certain types of intelligence (not market research) firms as well as any company dealing with confidential medical information like laboratories.

Member Avatar for MktgRob

Not only military but I also believe in other certain types of intelligence (not market research) firms as well as any company dealing with confidential medical information like laboratories.

Agreed. I think that you can also add to the list some financial services firms where a message can be twisted to say it influenced and investment that went bad. This would probably be a case of an extremely limited if not total lack of social networking presence by the company.

Member Avatar for InsightsDigital

There are also many industrial regulations that does not espouse certain types of social media. For example, chat or tweet feed of medical advice to patients or pharmaceutical companies communicating with patients via chat rooms.

Member Avatar for MktgRob

There are also many industrial regulations that does not espouse certain types of social media. For example, chat or tweet feed of medical advice to patients or pharmaceutical companies communicating with patients via chat rooms.

What is truly scary about that scenario is that people will use that feedback to self-diagnose, like the many who go onto webmd and self-diagnose.

On this same tact, I would say the law firms would probably not want to go to big into certain aspects of social media as opinions offered in blogs could be misconstrued as legal advice.

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