According to Facebook’s 10-K Annual Report, approximately 2% of all Facebook accounts (approximately 24 million total) are “undesirable”, meaning they spam or otherwise violate Facebook's terms of service. Of the 300 million Instagram users, more than 10 million, or 1 in 12, are fake. As the problem of fake accounts emerge across all social media networks, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to be aware of the social media risks caused by unauthorized accounts using their brand name. In addition, it’s important for companies to have the ability to take action on these unauthorized social media accounts in order to instantaneously remediate these social media risks. The types of social media risk most commonly associated with unauthorized accounts are:
Impersonation Accounts
Impersonation accounts are fake or fraudulent accounts targeting an executive, brand, or company. These social media accounts will actually mimic the activities of a company or executive and post content that could be damaging to the character of an individual or reputation of a brand. These types of accounts are also frequently used to execute phishing scams by gaining trust among followers and then from there, attempting to gather personal information.
Employee Accounts
Since social media is such a powerful platform to leverage for business purposes, many employees use social media in order to build relationships and conduct business on behalf of a company. In some cases, companies do not authorize the use of social media for business due to the regulatory and compliance risks associated with social media use, however that does not necessarily stop employees from using social media for business. Companies need to be aware of who is using social media on behalf of the company and what is being said in order to protect themselves from security and compliance risks.
Unofficial Company Accounts
Unofficial company accounts are very common on social media and while the content being shared may not intend to directly harm the company, the accounts could be disseminating incorrect information about a company or their products. It can be difficult for a customer to realize that a social media page isn’t actually owned and operated by the company itself and as a result, there are countless unofficial company pages collecting customer complaints and customer service questions with no response. Even though these types of pages aren’t actually monitored by the brand or company, this could still significantly damage the company’s relationship with the customer.
Brand Smashing Accounts
Brand smashing accounts are created as a platform for unhappy customers to publish negative comments or complaints about a company or brand. While these social media pages are not actually trying to impersonate the brand, companies should still be aware of what is being said on these pages. Brand smashing pages are an open forum for customers to voice their opinions about a company or brand. A company should discover and monitor these accounts in order to gain valuable insights into what is being said by consumers in order to solve problems and repair relationships with unhappy customers.
It is extremely important for companies to identify, analyze, and if necessary remediate all four types of malicious and non-malicious social media accounts. Being aware of these social media accounts will allow companies to gain valuable insights into what is being said about a company or brand in addition to better protecting their customers from security risks. Fake social media accounts can result in serious brand damage, compliance violations, and legal repercussions if they are not discovered and handled properly. For more information, please visit www.socialsafeguard.com.