Most Companies Don't Have A Social Media Policy

eMarketer writes today about a recent study by Manpower Associates that surveyed companies in the Americas, Asia and Europe and found that...
"...only one-fifth of the companies surveyed had a formal policy for employee use of external social networking sites. Firms in the Americas and Asia-Pacific were somewhat ahead on this front, but the majority of respondents in all regions had no policy in place. Among companies that did have a policy, 63% claimed it was effective in combating lost productivity."



And while it productivity is a concern for management, it seems that reputation management is also an area of interest to companies' social media policies. But so far, reputation hits are minimal,according to the report. From the overview: "Despite stories about people being fired for committing social networking gaffes, just 4% of companies worldwide said their reputation had been hurt by employee use of social networks. That rate was doubled in the Americas but still represented only a tiny percentage of respondents."

If you are a business owner or company manager, it's time to create a social media policy straightaway. Mashable kindly offers its list of 10 social media policy musts.