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Corporate social media is the use of social media by and within corporations. Historically employees of corporations accessed public social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook for personal use. Today, however, an increasing number of corporations have adopted the use of social media in the workplace and have seen an increase in the use of social networking and micro blogging sites such as Twitter and LinkedIn. Some corporations have implemented formal policies and invested in social business software and services such as Jive Engage or Yammer.

In a recent study conducted by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services 2,100 companies were polled on their use of and practices around social media. "Two-thirds of the companies polled confirmed they currently use social media or plan to do so in the foreseeable future. Of the 2,100 companies who took part in the study, 42% believe the use of social media is integral to their overall company goals and strategies".

More Companies are recognizing an increased number of benefits derived from the use of social media in marketing and advertising, internal and external corporate communications, and overall brand awareness. The belief is the benefits outweigh the potential risks of bad press, customer complaints, and brand bashing.

In his book Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, American author Erik Qualman reveals “good companies search technologies like Twitter to see what people are talking about, but savvy companies take it one step further and act on it’. This was evident during Super Bowl XLVII between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers when power was lost at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome leaving players and fans in the dark. Oreo Cookie took to Twitter and tweeted "Power Out? No Problem." The tweet was accompanied with an image of a lone Oreo cookie illuminated by light against a black background that read "You Can Still Dunk In The Dark". Oreo capitalized on what people were talking about, sparked a buzz, and generated brand awareness through its use of corporate social media.

Further reading

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• 2011 Fortune 500 - UMass Dartmouth
• Big Bird Tweets: How corporations use social media to gauge public persona - Computerworld
• Social media is reinventing how business is done – USATODAY.com
• How To Use Social Media To Promote Your Small Business - Forbes