Of the 233 responses collected, 79 per cent of the organisations provide internal collaboration tools for employees such as instant messaging, blogging or designated knowledge sharing tools.  Nearly half (49 per cent) of the organisations surveyed provided employees with an internal instant messaging tool, fifty per cent provided collaboration tools such as Microsoft Sharepoint, and 28 per cent offered an internal blogging platform.

However, according to Ian Poole, CEO of Integ, "businesses increasingly understand the value of employees using social tools to share information.  However, due to the risks associated with social networking sites, the majority are keen to keep these social tools within the company's network."

All well and good, the voice of the people can be heard – internally.

Poole continues: "Employee behaviour is definitely driving the adoption of social software applications within businesses.  With 'digital natives' entering the work force who are accustomed to  the messaging capabilities found in sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Skype, organisations are looking towards social software to find greater ways for their employees to communicate and share information with each other."

Interestingly, the survey clearly showed that those people in charge of blocking Social Media had some kind of conscience.  For instance while 41% blocked Skype and Facebook and Hotmail were blocked by 38% and 36% respectively, only 17% blocked LinkedIn (protecting their career?), 13% blocked hosted audio conferencing and Internet banking sites were blocked by just 9% of respondents.

There was no information collected for Twitter – although I'd expect it to feature prominently in next year's survey.

Overall, 76 per cent of respondents considered that allowing access to an external social networking application increased the companies' exposure to threats and 64 per cent blocked access to some or all sites. 

The general mood for blocking social media seemed to align with the need to control 'the message.' 

But how real is the threat?  And what are the consequences of enacting such a block?