Travelers' Survey Sheds Light on Social Media Risk for Businesses

As the number of people using social media continues to grow, so do questions about the potential exposures that businesses may face from employee use of the online medium.

Twitter has set the pace for this growth with 20.9 million unique visitors in June 2009, according to Nielsen NetView. Compare that with a year earlier when it had just more than 1 million unique visitors during the same period.

A national survey sponsored by Travelers Global Technology revealed that one in eight adults now use social media for business purposes. But two-thirds said they either weren't aware of a social media policy at their company, or that it didn't have one.

Kathy Swendsen, president of Travelers Global Technology, said the broad lack of awareness based on that result could also indicate that some employers are unaware of the conversations that are taking place.

"I would expect that we'll continue to see a growth in the number of companies that address these exposures, whether it's by having policies that limit access or provide additional guidelines and procedures on how their employees use it," Swendsen said.

Only one in four of the 2,060 adults who responded to the poll believed that information posted online could cause professional damage. The result didn't surprise Kirstin Simonson, underwriting director at Travelers Global Technology. She said it may speak to the fact that people haven't fully recognized the impact that social media can have on a business, whether the communication is internal or external.

Simonson said the risk exposures fall along traditional lines such as product disparagement or privacy invasion.

"The difference here is that we're talking about user-generated content that has the ability to be spread across a vast audience very quickly," Simonson said.

A total of 35% believed that employers should conduct Internet searches on potential job candidates. Another 23% believed employers should scan online for information about current employees. Simonson cautioned that there may be ramifications of using such an approach. She said basing hiring and firing decisions on someone's social media use is comparable with an employment decision that extends beyond an individual's qualifications or performance.

Swendsen said employers need to understand that there is exposure, establish policies, educate employees and then take steps to mitigate any potential risks.

"We're hoping through this survey and discussion that it creates an opportunity for agents to have a discussion with their insureds about what their risks are," Swendsen said.