Social networks have become a goldmine of information for companies skilled in the art of connecting the dots - a little-noticed development that is beginning to concern companies.
According to a global study commissioned by Cisco only one in seven of the companies that participated in the research has a formal process to adopt consumer-based social networking tools for business purposes - indicating that the potential risks are either overlooked or not well understood, writes MarketingCharts.
In the Corporate Core
Yet social networking tools have already spread into many companies' core areas of the value chain, such as marketing and communications, human relations, and customer service departments.
"The research findings spotlight an underestimation of the power and influence of social networks on businesses, and the transformation that companies need to make, not only to protect themselves, but also to encourage and benefit from the collaboration these social networks and tools afford them," said Evgeny Kaganer, Ph.D., lead researcher and assistant professor, IESE Business School.
Making Decisions
Other companies, though, have an all too clear understanding of the impact social media data has - and are mining it for competitive purposes. For starters, unlike corporate espionage and hack attacks, it is legal, according to Bob Fox, head of a competitive intelligence program for Canadian entrepreneurs. "Competitive intelligence is designed to help companies make decisions," he says (via the Globe and Mail).
One way to gather it is by examining public statements by company staffers - especially if they are inconsistent - that can point to new initiatives under way. He advises firms to monitor competitors' comments in the media, on industry blogs, at conferences and, yes, on social networks like Twitter and Facebook.
Connecting Relationships
These sites are potential gold mines for competitors that want to better understand client and partner relationships, Tracy L. Coenen, says a fraud investigator with Sequence Forensic Accounting. (via The E-Commerce Times.)
A key question in most investigations is relationships - who knows who, who is transacting business with whom, she said. Connecting these dots becomes much easier when people link to their friends for all the world to see. Twitter especially can be valuable in this way, she continued.
"People aren't using nearly as much discretion as they should - they will mention a project they are working on on Twitter. If a competitor is watching, it could pick up valuable nuggets of information."
New Hires
New hires can also be telling - information that is readily found on LinkedIn, according to security firm Aladdin, writes V3 (formerly VUNET).
"When users update their information, a list of each company's new hires and promotions is compiled. By analyzing this information, a company could figure out a competitor's strategy and possible initiatives," the security firm said.
"Corporate 'spying' has never been easier - companies and organizations have little or no control over the information their employees share on social networks, and individuals generally make no distinction between public or confidential corporate data that they disseminate."
