Osterman Research Releases “Best Practices for Social Media Archiving and Security”

The use of social media provides a number of important benefits that help organizations become more efficient, speed the decision-making process, and allow information sharing in a way that is not possible or practical otherwise.

However, a surge in the use of social media – whether it be consumer-focused or enterprise-grade – comes with several risks and costs.

Social media is absolutely essential for business success today, so companies can no longer realistically prevent employee use of social media. Managing social media content by bring posts that contain business communications within the compliance perimeter is now a critical part of risk management.

There are more inadvertent and malicious leaks of information these days that can compromise a company’s security. A recent blog post by Lee Negroni points to the risks in social that make companies and their employees vulnerable to attacks.

The latest white paper from Michael Osterman of Osterman Research, “Best Practices for Social Media Archiving and Security,” presents the results of an in-depth primary research survey conducted with decision-makers in mid-sized and large organizations about their organizations’ enterprise social strategy.

According to the white paper, organizations that do not archive content from social media platforms face significant and growing risks from their inaction. For example:

• 26% of organizations said they had to produce content for eDiscovery from their enterprise social media platform. Osterman Research anticipates that this figure will grow dramatically over the next two years.

• There are a variety of regulatory obligations to retain business records generated by or stored in social media platforms. For example the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Regulatory Notice 10-06, Regulatory Notice 11-39, and Rule 2210(c)(6); the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) Social Media Guidance; and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) GC14/6 all place requirements on regulated organizations to retain relevant social media content.

• Governments at various levels have open-records requirements and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) obligations to retain and produce electronic records, which increasingly will include social media content.

According to Osterman, when archiving social media content, organizations of all sizes should select a comprehensive archiving platform that can archive all relevant content types, not just email or social media. “A single archive managed using a single console will enable efficiencies that a set of siloed solutions cannot provide. Plus, it will reduce the chance of not being able to find relevant information when necessary,” said Osterman.

Download the new Osterman white paper Best Practices for Social Media Archiving and Security now to find out how to mitigate the risks associated with social media use.