The best practice business guide to using social media data

David J Evans of the Information Commissioner's Office explains how to avoid legal and reputational damage when collecting and using consumer information from social networks.  

2010 has proven to be the year that the implications of carefree sharing of personal information have begun to dawn on many users. The halcyon days of posting with wild abandon in a supposedly consequence-free environment are over. Now the topic of privacy is hardly out of the headlines.

Facebook was forced into a u-turn over its privacy settings as concerned users revolted. Google too has also found itself on the receiving end of a backlash for the way it presented personal information. Newspaper reports of social media monitoring technologies have further stoked public outrage. As recently as last week, Google boss Eric Schmidt warned people to give greater thought to the consequences of posting so much personal information about themselves online.

Businesses, meanwhile, find themselves conflicted. With so much information in the public domain, there are great benefits to be had. Private sector, public sector and non-profits could all use social media data to identify new customers or target products to existing ones. Services such as Rapleaf mine social networks, forums, blogs and review sites for public information, which it then uses to help clients better understand their customers and personalise the customer experience. Social media monitoring tools are being deployed by a soaring number of firms as they seek to identify and address customer service grievances being aired on social platforms.

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