Social networks & business: three important questions to ask

• What can be said about the state of social networking and business-friendly collaborative uses?

According to Bolton & Prince’s “Top 10 Things You Should Know About Social Networking”, social software is driven essentially by “grassroots” end-users and – comparatively speaking – has not been so widely adopted in corporate and/or collaborative ways.  (EWeek August 17, 2009)

Technorati Tags: social networking,mapwide.com,privacy,cyberlaw,IT security,collaboration

• How long might it take for a firm to adopt social networking within existing corporate intranet infrastructure?

A study by Nielson Norman Group found that typical adoption times range from 3-5 years.

• What’s the biggest concern concerning the wide scale government and business adoption of social networking and/or increased integration of social networks within existing corporate intranets?

By far the biggest threat to consider is the security and privacy-related issues associated with the vast increases in end-user/consumer adoption of social networking. Bolton & Prince (2009) point out that The Pentagon is reviewing these implications, which is a significant marker of the mounting awareness of the unique IT security threats which parallel these massively distributed applications:

The Pentagon is reviewing its policies toward social networking sites amid network security and other concerns. According to reports, U.S. officials have ordered a review of the threats and benefits of using sites such as Facebook.

Related:

• Read PC Magazine’s article about Facebook Privacy: Facebook Privacy? No Sweat
• Example of the business use of social network integration: read a review

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