Security Risks Arising from Social Networking - Dissertation Example

The major barrier however is that many organizations are unsure of how to come up with effective policies in social media. Instead, many organizations either prohibit social media use altogether or have no policy at all regarding social media use. These two approaches are unsatisfactory. According to the global socioeconomic trend, people and organizations that do not adopt social media are left behind and fail to reap the significant benefits.Social networking sites' popularity has greatly increased.

No one can argue the usefulness of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. They are used for professional networking and job searches, as a means of increasing sales revenue, as an information tool regarding safety and other issues, or as a way to reconnect with friends. Evidently, emails have lost their position as the main internet-based communication tools due to the explosion of other social networking options, interaction, and collaboration (Freeman, 2004). According to a report by The Wall Street Journal in 2009, there are more social networking accounts than Webmail account.

Nowadays, users rely more on blogs, tweets, and social networking posts to supplement their exchange of personal and professional information. We live in a period where our identity online seems to overshadow our actual identity, as well as key personal and financial systems, thus posing major security risks that are associated with them. Over the years, security risks on the process, people, and application have been identified by researchers and hackers (Abraham, 2012). This study’s main purpose is to provide an overview of the main security issues or risks pertaining to social networking.

In an effort to employ a more strict process for carrying out a situational analysis on social media, the study will employ a SWOT model. To commence, we begin by listening, which serves as the market research, content, location, and tone of the discussions found in social media.