Google+ has attracted a lot of buzz and more than 20 million users so far, but use of the social network in the enterprise raises a host of questions about privacy and security. Before letting employees run wild on Google+ at work, consider five tips from Joshua Kubicki, senior director of legal and corporate practices at the e-discovery provider Applied Discovery.

The first thing to do is incorporate Google+ into your existing social media policy because simply ignoring the platform doesn't protect an organization, Kubicki told CIO magazine. As you update the policy, consider whether everyone or just a subset of employees should be given access. Consider questions such as whether employees can reveal the name of the company. What information can they share? Can they access the network from a company-issued mobile device?

Once you've updated the policy, go off the beaten path and actually train employees in it. In addition to letting employees know what is and isn't allowed, let them know how social media use is monitored and how the policy is enforced.

Although Google+ doesn't have a search button at the moment, we've got to wonder what data it will return when it does. Will information that employees post to their own Circles be searched? Kubicki points out the AdWords searches Gmail and analyzes the content so it potentially can search conversations in Google+. "How comfortable are you that Google has access to your private conversations and uses that information for advertising? That brings up privacy issues," he says.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that an employee's information posted on Google+ can't be demanded by an adversary if your organization is sued. All social media activity is seen as electronically stored information, and therefore it is considered potentially relevant in litigation, Kubicki said. Some companies, including those in financial services, are already taking steps to preserve this kind of data because of compliance obligations.

For more:
- see Kristin Burnham's post at CIO

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