Do you ask your IT desk before tweeting?

Do your workers tweet in the office? Should they? Do you have social media policies in place? A new survey by Cisco finds that businesses are inconsistent when it comes to the rules of the road regarding social networking, according to an article from NetworkWorld.com.

"Only one in seven of the companies that participated in the research noted a formal process associated with adopting consumer-based social networking tools for business purposes, indicating that the potential risks associated with these tools in the enterprise are either overlooked or not well understood," the study found.

In addition, the study found that only one out of 10 survey respondents said their IT departments were directly involved in social networking initiatives. The results of this survey find a patchwork of policies regarding social networking and no clear path for businesses to follow in embracing social media or trying to ban it.

It seems that businesses should enact a uniform rule on how and when to use social media. Should the rules be the same for marketing and communication? Or should uniform rules be implemented so every organization has a general idea of what works and what doesn't? These are all issues that IT managers must figure out. Social networking may be relatively new, but it is not going away.

For more on social networking:
- see this NetworkWorld.com article

Related Articles:
Lost your job? Try social networking to find one 
Survey: Developers turn to social networks
New IT skills needed with new tech