Businesses should have social media use policies in place

Companies that use social networking websites professionally should have acceptable use policies in place, it has been claimed.

According to the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) Europe, firms which don't have social media procedures and regulations set in stone are "flirting with calamity".

Doug Miles, UK managing director of AIIM Europe, said: "Collaboration without governance is a recipe for disaster."

"Executives need to understand the difference between playing around on Facebook and building a true collaborative infrastructure for the organisation," he added.

Miles claimed that without a solid social network use policy in place, firms will find it very hard to discipline staff who misuse the technology.

He concluded that potential misuse issues should not detract from social media's benefit as a collaborative marketing tool.

Recently, research from Gartner claimed that by 2014, social networking will replace email as the primary tool for interpersonal communication for a fifth of business users.

Posted by Jessie Richards