Manufacturers must protect online reputations, says WorkLight

“The figures show that social media and Web 2.0 consumer tools, such as social networking and personalised homepages, have become a marketing focus for many businesses, as a way to engage customers and partners in the places they frequent online,” says David Lavenda, vice president of marketing at Web 2.0 business integrity specialist WorkLight. “The research is interesting in that it notes that a growing number of companies leveraging consumer Web 2.0 sites are now using quantitative measurement technologies – including analytics, monitoring tools and online metrics – with these services,” he explains. “Our observations suggest that, despite these investments, many firms simply do not have the right tools to protect business-critical information from Web 2.0 security shortfalls,” he warns. According to Lavenda, if firms are currently investing in quantitative systems to monitor their reputation on Web 2.0 sites, they also need to establish safe environments for employees to access portals. “It’s good to see so many firms realising the B2B and B2C potential that Facebook, Bebo and other social networking sites offer,” says Lavenda. “It will be a natural course of events as firms implement enterprise-grade security on top of them to take full advantage of the business benefits they can potentially provide.”