Overview

The recent explosion of social media is increasingly moving beyond our living rooms and finding a comfortable seat in our conference rooms. Gone are the days when Facebook was a relatively unknown website for college kids trying to coordinate their weekend plans or when no one knew just exactly what tweeting was. Social media tools, once used only by those considered tech savvy, are becoming commonplace across generational lines, and are gradually moving beyond purely social and personal uses to infiltrate the corporate world. Social media tools have the potential to be extremely beneficial to companies that adopt them, but must be implemented with thoughtfulness and due care, particularly when used to communicate with the market. In order for companies to realize the full value of social media, it is important to understand not only how these tools work, but also the regulatory environment in which they operate, potential challenges and evolving best practices. This guide from Bingham McCutchen looks at how such tools can be used to best effect by companies.