I just read a VIP LiveWire post entitled "Social Media - still a two-edged weapon". It's an excellent short piece that summarizes the struggle that organizations are still having with social media. It's fascinating to see the ongoing hesitation in engaging with social media, and the often unspoken concern "what could go wrong?"

In particular, it's really interesting to see the question phrased "have we thought of everything that could go wrong?" To me, this reveals a caution that can potentially put an organization out of business. Using social media, and actually engaging with your audience - whether that be customers, clients, other businesses, etc. - IS essentially giving up some amount control. A lot of organizations simply shudder at this.

What I take away from all the presentations, use, examples and growth involving social media is that it is here to stay, in one form or another. The conversation is going to happen, whether or not the organization is willing to participate. So organizations can either not engage and have the conversation happen without them (and it will inevitably be negative), or organizations can start engaging and building a more engaging presence.

Do you view social media as an opportunity or a threat?

Christy Confetti-Higgins and I had the wonderful opportunity to present to learning, library and IT professionals at the New York Life building in Manhattan on June 24. Folks from several industries came to listen and chat with us. We shared our overall approach to integrating social networking tools into information-intensive environments, and Christy shared about Sun's many projects across the social networking spectrum. Thank you to Safari for asking us to present!

The first part of the slides can be found here - Christy's slides can be found on Sun's Social Learning eXchange. We'd love to get your comments and feedback!