I attended an event hosted by one of our clients last week and it was titled 'managing the workplace risks of using social media' and was presented by Martin Thomas who has been there and (literally) written the book.

Martin covered some interesting points including:

1. Only 50% of marketers are aware of social media rules and regulation
2. 61.2% of UK workers don't know about their companies social media policy
3. 15% of workers admit that they use social media to vent their working frustrations 
4. A survey of 100 firms in the US found over 7,000 social media breaches

Martin also highlighted that there is often a failure amongst senior leadership to highlight the risks associated with using social media in the wrong way.

It got me thinking that social media can be dangerous if the culture within a company is wrong as it gives employees a platform to vent.  I did some further digging and found a great article on how to cultivate the right culture The article mentions 6 key things that build the right culture: listening to your employees, breaking down hierarchical barriers, offering necessary flexibilities, being tolerant, not being egotistical,  and lastly, trusting and empowering the workforce.  

We often speak to our clients about distributing leadership throughout their businesses and this is done by trusting employees and treating them as experts but also giving them a platform to showcase their skills, hone their craft, and importantly use social media as the vehicle to get their expertise out to clients and prospects.