Technology & Innovation

For the BBC, social media opportunities outweigh the risks

September 23, 2009

Global

September 23, 2009

Global
Our Editors

The Economist Intelligence Unit

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BBC, the British public service broadcaster, has adopted a liberal view on the use of new technologies. Its journalists and reporters use social media sites, such as Twitter, on a daily basis as one of many sources of information and public opinion, and leverage Facebook in their research of news stories and people. BBC employees also use Facebook for internal networking and communication with colleagues. The IT department is also mulling over the policies that would permit the use of personal laptops.  
John Linwood, the BBC’s CTO, who joined the corporation in early 2009 from Yahoo, an online media portal, is receptive to many other uses of social media in the workplace. “We are the largest media company in the UK, with 28,000 employees, and interaction with our audiences is very important to us. Social networking is an additional tool we can use to achieve greater interactivity. Whenever we release a new version of iPlayer [an online play-back portal for the earlier broadcast programmes], for example, we use the Twitter community to get feedback on different features.”  
Mr Linwood admits that using social media has increased the risks for the company: “Social networks are another vehicle that malicious people can use; we are aware of that and are making sure that our IT policies and procedures can deal with it.” The corporation has rules for the use of social media and blogging, and it sends its employees on mandatory training courses to make sure they have sufficient knowledge and skills to use information effectively and wisely.  
Information security is a shared responsibility at the BBC, according to Mr Linwood. “Responsibility for developing information policy and understanding the IT threats lies with the CIO. But in terms of implementation, it is up to each individual employee. Once they receive the training, they need to step up and take responsibility for their own actions and for data security within their area. Our role is to equip and educate staff across the organisation and then have them take responsibility for the areas in which they are involved.”

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