60% of companies see social media as threat to reputation

New research has revealed that UK business leaders have been slow to adopt Web 2.0 applications such as social media, blogging, collaborative platforms, web mail, and content sharing tools, to benefit their companies.

The report, commissioned by antivirus software company McAfee, titled “Web 2.0: A Complex Balancing Act, reveals Brazil, Spain and India lead in adoption of Web 2.0 technology for business, while adoption was lowest in Canada, Australia, the US and the UK.

The research highlights that although organisations see the potential value in Web 2.0 tools, companies are unsure about allowing employee use of the technology in the workplace, with 60% of companies surveyed concerned about loss of reputation as a result of Web 2.0 misuse.

While a quarter of organisations monitor how staff use social media, almost one in three have not introduced a social media policy in the workplace.

40% of companies found that Web 2.0 tools had led to increased productivity and better results from marketing, and 75% had increased their use of the technology in order to develop new revenue streams for their organisations.

Security concerns have clearly hindered adoption of Web 2.0 with half of the firms surveyed concerned about security threats- virus infections and greater volumes of spam were the most common.

McAfee chief technology officer George Kurtz said, “Web 2.0 technologies are impacting all aspects of the way businesses work…As Web 2.0 technologies gain popularity, organisations are faced with a choice — they can allow them to propagate unchecked, they can block them, or they can embrace them.”

The report surveyed over 1,000 business leaders in 17 countries and examines the drivers for Web 2.0 and social networking use in business.