What are the risks to social media?

Living in a reactionary society, most of our actions are reaction to the stimuli. No wonder that most organisations worry about how people will react to their presence on any social media network. Their foremost concern is that individuals will use social media to say things that could prove harmful for them. Now, I must concede that this fear is not completely unfounded. But this is not a risk, this is a certainty. When employees are allowed to use social media, someone or the other is sure to do something mind-numbingly foolish. You simply cannot avoid it, so better take it as a certainty and prepare to deal with it.

Another issue that rankles the high ups of any organisation is the security threat that social media presents. What if someone from the organisation decides to use a trade secret to spice up their next tweet? We have seen this happen often enough to safely assume that such fears are not unfounded. Other things that organisations agonize over are employees making fun of clients or making a politically incorrect joke and worse still, sexually harassing someone.

But you see the problem here is not social media. It's the people. If people are not mature enough and lack the self-control to avoid such obnoxious behaviour then problems are bound to happen whether it’s in social media or any other place that they operate in.

The biggest risk of social media worth mulling over is quite the opposite. The nightmare of every company taking a plunge into social media is that nobody will notice and participate in their social media network. It’s quite heartbreaking to see beautifully designed and unmistakably expensive online communities that are now lying deserted. Even those who manage to attract some debate soon either recede into violent arguments or steer off the course. The fate of others is even more pathetic as they fail to upgrade and just fade away. Most embarrassing is the failure of some organisations to handle technical snags because of which they fizzle out.

So what can you do to avoid this risk? Think why you are on social media… it’s for your clients and audiences. So put them first… what interest them and what is useful for them? Placing enough staff to keep the site crackling while taking care that no rivalry shows up also helps, but the most important thing is to get a feel of social media yourself. Understand the media so you are in a position to take the right decision.

We perceive social media or for that matter anything new thing as a risk because we are wired to maintain status quo. However, just because we are accustomed and comfortable with something does not mean that risks disappear. We are forced to face them and tackle them sooner or later. The risk of social media is none other than the risk of stepping into hitherto unknown. You always have to work hard doing it against not doing it.