Top 6 reasons companies fear social media, do you agree

[MktgRob]

B.L. Ochman, writing on SocialMediaToday.com 2 days ago, listed the following reason many companies avoid participating in Social Media and/or block Social Media sites on their internal networks. What do you think?

1. Employees will wast time on social media sites
2. Haters will damage our brand name
3. The company will lose control of the brand and the message
4. It can't be cheap or free so budget will have to be allocated
5. Participation will make the company vulernable to lawsuits
6. Information discussed on social media sites will give the competition insights into corporate secrets or the availability of the info will affect the stock price.

[InsightsDigital]

Yes, I do agree with some of those points. Most of all, I do believe that the same points were said the same about email. Now it is social media. Who knows what is going to be next?

[MktgRob]

Yes, I do agree with some of those points. Most of all, I do believe that the same points were said the same about email. Now it is social media. Who knows what is going to be next?

You are absolutely right about the same things being said about e-mail. I worked for a company a few years back that had a Systems manager who used to tell everyone that e-mail was a fad and that faxing was the only way to really communicate between businesses when not talking on the phone. This was 2003-2004 time frame and the company kept this lunatic around because they had a comfort level with him!

[lentrepot]

Personally, I agree with a number of the points that were made by the article but I question the email analogy. I do NOT think that social media is a fad either, but I do think that social media pushes more information to the forefront and interactions happen faster AND are harder to track.

So I guess what I am saying is that I don't think its wise for company's to try and avoid social media but I do think that it does pose some legitimate threats to certain types of businesses.

[MktgRob]

Personally, I agree with a number of the points that were made by the article but I question the email analogy. I do NOT think that social media is a fad either, but I do think that social media pushes more information to the forefront and interactions happen faster AND are harder to track.

So I guess what I am saying is that I don't think its wise for company's to try and avoid social media but I do think that it does pose some legitimate threats to certain types of businesses.

Just to be clear, I was not in agreement with the assessment of my formerr coworker that e-mail was a fad. He was a little looney. And I agree with you that there are some aspects of social media that do pose threats to certain companies but those are the exceptions rather than the rule and they can opt to not participate in the more hazardous areas of social media.

[InsightsDigital]

I do believe any form of new social electronic communication has its strengths, weaknesses, and threats. For example, pharmaceutical companies are hesitant to use the two way social media chat component because this type of conversation can open a can of legal worms which can hit companies with multimillion or even billion dollar penalties from the federal government.

[MktgRob]

I do believe any form of new social electronic communication has its strengths, weaknesses, and threats. For example, pharmaceutical companies are hesitant to use the two way social media chat component because this type of conversation can open a can of legal worms which can hit companies with multimillion or even billion dollar penalties from the federal government.

I would say the same is true of investment firms and any other vertical that is heavily regulated or the potential target of lawsuits like pharma.