When you speak to the other 90% of the world that barely understands the concept of social media, is your rhetoric more Anthony Robbins or Rush Limbaugh? In your pitches, are the benefits of social media innovation balanced against the potential risks to corporate information?

As corporate consultancies begin to play in the arena, this type of analysis will become more prevalent. And it will sway corporate decision makers without the appropriate level of preparation by social media evangelists.

For example, Clearswift recently conducted surveys in Britain and the United States to examine use of social media and “Web 2.0? sites in the workplace. Their news release highlighted the term “data leakage,” and the U.S. news release emphasized that the “Growing popularity of Web 2.0 sites put corporate information at risk and drains productivity.”

The data points being fed to corporate clients, as a result, emphasize three points:

• without a plan to deal with social media use, corporations risk the loss of valuable corporate information, either intentionally or inadvertently;

• employees, especially the younger generation, are already online A LOT during work hours; and

• use of “Web 2.0″ sites can significantly affect productivity in the workplace.

Key to these arguments are two separate sets of findings:

United States

• 46 percent of office workers have discussed work-related issues on social media websites;
• 71 percent of office workers use Web-based email at work for personal reasons;

Britain

• 42 per cent of office workers aged 18-29 have discussed work-related issues on social media websites
• 59 per cent of office workers aged 18-29 believed that employees should be entitled to access Web 2.0 Internet content from their work computer for personal reasons, compared to 38 per cent of employees aged 30+.

It’s hard to compare the two sets of surveys, as their methodology is different in each country. Still, the results are similar and reinforce the message being driven by Clearswift:

“More than half of the people we surveyed feel that they are entitled to access the Internet and social media sites at work, and 27 percent of them work at organizations that don’t have an acceptable use policy or don’t know if one exists,” added Ian Bowles. “We have become way too casual with the Internet; this despite the propagation of viruses, bugs, spam and scams that plague the Internet and can harm an organization. We urge businesses to take a sensible approach to the risks posed by the Internet and social media sites.”

As a social media evangelist, what’s your prophylactic response to all these viruses and icky web dwellers? What materials have you prepared to relieve executive concerns and help push adoption on a corporate level?

h/t to the Melcrum Blog, and cross-posted to SoSaidThe.Org