21 Oct 2011 ~ PCCare247.com PCCare247.com Blog, PC Care 247 Tech Support Redefined

Friday 21 October 2011

Is Social Networking really an evil or more of a necessity?

The platform of social networking is always ready to embrace one and all. For not only in reality is it a concept where old acquaintances and friends can go ahead and catch up on old times but rather are also at a liberty to opinionate and shop around for some of the most lucrative deals around. 


In fact, as trends would point out social networking as a concept also does well to blur boundaries, increase transparency and create fluidity in almost anything and everything we do. Linking a twelfth of society and growing rapidly, it may be added companies large and small can no longer ignore or even try blocking social networking. In essence, all I can say it is the part of the fabric in which we not only learn but play and work at the same time.

Making sense of social networking
Social Networking Help
The reality is you need to go where your target audiences are and people are more likely to participate in a social media forum than any other venue. Clients, channel partners and employees alike are more or less likely to engage via social media –  in short, it is a way for you to stay connected, gather feedback, recruit, and collaborate. As a result, I can really vouch that supporting social media in any environment readily gives an impetus to innovation, productivity, and accelerated growth which will ensure a business expands well and beyond what is expected.

The Ugly face of Social Networking
In spite of factors such as personalization, the ease with which information can be shared, and the real-time nature of the medium, it might be worth pointing social media also ends up posing significant risks to a business. And following are the top four risks which come tagged along with social networking. Starting with:

·         Malware
With more than 700 billion minutes being spent per month on Facebook alone, social networking sites are fast turning into ideal malware targets. And yes, if statistics would be anything to go by then nearly 40% of users are infected by malware from social networking sites. Typical attacks often stem from the trust relationship established between users and their connections users are tricked into giving up financial information that can be further exploited for financial gain. Some examples of malware are:

o   Phishing: Employing increasingly sophisticated techniques; attackers pose as legitimate social networking connections and try to lure PC users into providing sensitive information, such as your login credentials. Preying on the tendency of most people to use same passwords for all accounts hackers believe PC users are tricked into divulging confidential information related to banking and other financial transactions.
o   Click-Jacking: This concept uses the dynamic nature of social networking and a willingness to click on links from known contacts, and even those ones you don’t know to reach a large audience, cajoling you into revealing private information (e.g. through surveys), collecting hits for ad revenues and eventually allow access to an entire social network.



·         Productivity Loss
Online destinations such as social networking enable you to post and read messages, date, shop, upload or check out videos, and play games. In turn making such platforms an increasingly convenient and engaging target for users, drawing them to spend more and more time and better still at the end of the day making it increasingly challenging for a business to apply control.

·         Bandwidth Consumption
With nearly 40% of employees accessing social networking sites at work, a potential strain on bandwidth ends up acting as a detriment of other business applications.

·         Data Loss
There been cases in which employees have unintentionally posted proprietary software code to social networking sites, exposing sensitive intellectual property. These actions, though unintentional, can potentially violate industry specific regulations, impact reputation, or put an organization at a competitive disadvantage with unprecedented data loss. Just visit any kind of Support for Malware Removal http://www.pccare247.com/pc-security/malware-removal.html

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