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Companies are increasingly using consumer technologies like wikis and blogs and social networking sites like LinkedIn and MySpace for promoting their business and for researching what the competition is up to. They should do so with caution, though, experts say-while these sites are free and easy to use, slipshod execution can backfire on a business.
About 25 percent of businesses with less than 250 employees use social networking sites at least once a month to find business contacts, while about 12 percent have business profiles on networking sites to promote their businesses, according to a survey released by JupiterResearch in February.
Tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook or even blogs are Rolodex-style electronic personal business tracking and branding tools that can help businesses-if used responsibly, that is, according to Steve Hilton, a vice president at Yankee Group.