The good, the bad and the ugly: social media prospects and perils for records management

Abstract

Records and information professionals have in recent years, seen themselves grappling with new technologies in order to ensure that records generated in the process are captured and preserved for business requirements. It has been evident that the availability of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their associated benefits have resulted in an increased number of organisations adopting and using social media to reach out to customers and clients. With social media issues like security, privacy, service agreements and standards are continually added and can change instantly. These frequent changes and unreliable environments call for organisations adopting social media initiatives to be aware of the risks and opportunities involved, thereby ensuring that resultant records are controlled, monitored and preserved accordingly or stand the risk of losing their digital information. This conceptual study used documentary reviews to collect data in the analysis of opportunities and risks brought by social media in the records management field and explore alternatives for records management. This study found that social media presents a volatile environment with both the good and the bad. Therefore, this study recommends that organisations that adopt and use social media platforms should put measures in place for the management of social media records to meet legal and business requirements.