Do You Really Need a Social Media Risk Management Program?

This tweet today from Jeremiah Owyang of Altimeter Group

Report: Build a Safe Social Business Program by Guarding the Gates trib.al/GDE05ZWeekend Reading

— Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang) August 11, 2012

alerted me to a new report from Altimeter Group on social media risk management — an idea which I expect is intended to pique the interest of social media naysayers.

Much of the findings should come as no surprise to any social media or social business practitioner.  Defending a brand and preventing information from reaching unintended outsiders have by default become the daily tasks for anyone in a social role.  However, it is a good idea to formalize risk management by creating documentation, what-if scenarios, and crisis communications plans (OK, ‘crisis’ sounds a bit extreme, but you get the idea.)

And of course, a representative from a company’s legal team should be looped in to this effort.

The Altimeter Group report is here, for further reading.