Social Media and Its Associated Risks ©November 2011, 24 pages

For many companies, social media is the proverbial double-edged sword. It offers both opportunities and risks. Social media cuts across many areas of a company (including HR, marketing, communications and legal, among others,); therefore any policy surrounding it should be the result of a multidisciplinary approach. Financial Executives Research Foundation, Inc. (FERF), working in partnership with Grant Thornton LLP, developed a 23-question online survey and conducted in-depth interviews to produce this report, Social media and its associated risks. The survey was conducted during August and September 2011 and was completed by 141 executives from public and private companies. The interviews involved eight open-ended questions and were conducted during September 2011. This report is based on the findings of both the online survey and the in-depth interviews.

Some of the key survey findings include the following:
• Almost half (48%) of the senior financial executives who responded to the survey feel that social media will be an important component of corporate marketing efforts
going forward.
• More than half (53%) of respondents see corporate use of social media increasing significantly over the next 12 months.
• More than three-quarters (76%) of respondent companies do not have a clearly defined social media policy.
• More than half (61%) of respondents indicated their organizations do not have an incident management
plan to help them deal with instances of fraud and/or
privacy breaches.
Key interview findings include:
• The speed with which social media has grown in the last five years caught many executives by surprise.
• Executives are allocating more funds to IT security overall, though not necessarily to address specific risks associated with social media.
• While many companies do have e-mail communication and technology usage policies, very few companies have policies that specifically address social media governance and risks.