Facebook at work? Tips to ensure you’re not putting your company at risk

While on Facebook at work this morning, I came across an interesting article from Inc. Magazine discussing how Facebooking at work could put your company at risk of spam, phishing and malware. The article releases a statistic from a survey done by British research firm Sophos revealing that 72% of companies believe their employees' activities on social networking sites could endanger their business's security. In addition, 60% of businesses saying they believe Facebook presents the biggest security risk due to the social network company forcing users opening up profiles, significantly ahead of MySpace at 18% and Twitter at 17%.

Although our company understands the risks Facebook presents, we also understand that the benefits of being connected on Facebook far exceed those risks. I was on the social network this morning checking up on a few fan pages that we’ve helped clients develop in the past few years. For many companies, Facebook fan pages are becoming an important tactic to keep connected and become more engaged with employees, clients, customers and prospects. In order to do so, many employees are asked to engage in social networks while on the clock.

So, how can employees help avoid endangering their business’ online security? Here are 5 simple things you can do:

1. Use a personal e-mail account instead of the corporate address to avoid spam from entering your corporate e-mail program.

2. Don’t click on any Facebook ads while accessing your account from a corporate computer.

3. Only connect with people you know well. Your company’s fan page connects you to customers and prospects, so don’t feel obligated to accept if they send a personal friend request to you.

4. Use caution when authorizing applications. You can keep an eye on which applications you have authorized by going to “Settings” and clicking “Application Settings“. Then, on the “Show” dropdown menu select “Authorized” and you’ll see the applications that can access your data and are allowed to post and view information from your contacts.

5. Don’t download files from other people’s profiles while in the office. Links from people you don’t know could contain viruses that can corrupt your company’s computer.


Facebook can be an incredibly important tool for companies to market themselves. Stay smart about security and you’ll only experience the benefits.