Social media and Web 2.0 have changed the way people interact online - it’s never been easier to get updates from your friends, family and others that you’ve connected with online.

With this ease comes the reality that not everyone publishing information at these websites is looking out for your best interest. Many of these larger sites rely heavily on user contributed content and aren’t consistently moderated by website management, making them a playground for Spammers to provide malicious links and URL’s to unsuspecting folks.

This trend is troublesome for businesses of all sizes

A recent study conducted by Websense found that 52 per cent of 4,600 IT organizations polled had experienced an increase in malware attacks as a direct result of employees’ use of social media. Additionally, they found that employees spent around 30 minutes daily at social media sites.

These numbers represent a trend that indicates higher costs for businesses due to virus removals, computer repairs and lost wages from employees conducting personal business during their scheduled work hours.

Higher Operating Costs Make You Less Competitive

It’s no secret that higher operating costs make your business less competitive with others that are able to keep their operating costs lower. This is why businesses that implement Web Content Security are smart to be ahead of their employees and protect their computer networks against scams and viruses that are being promoted at these popular websites.

Web Content Security software addresses these two key concerns by allowing IT managers to set social media access rules for all employees without having to stand over their shoulders all day long. These access rules can be set by department or on an individual basis which allows you to keep control of when (and where) your employees are spending their time online.

For instance, you might want to grant your Social media department access to your Facebook fan page for the whole day, but limit access to their personal Facebook page to only during their lunch hour. Web content filtering allows your IT department to enforce these rules without causing an embarrassing situation or confrontation between business management and employees.

Furthermore, any URL that your employees attempt to visit will be screened and analyzed to detect the presence of malware, spyware and other types of malicious code that could result in trojans or other types of network intrusions. Any link or URL that’s determined to contain harmful, unauthorized or illegal content will be blocked, stopping your employees right in their tracks and stopping computer issues before they get a chance to make it on your network.

If you’re ready to put web content filtering controls into place to minimize the threats posed by social media us at your workplace, we can help! Give us a call at 1-877-270-7753 or request a no obligation, risk free quote on URL Content Filtering