5 Reasons Organizations Should Be Archiving their Social Media Accounts

In an era where a single social media mishap can spiral into a legal nightmare, social media archiving is increasingly becoming a safety net for organizations.

As of 2022, Slack has over 35 million daily active users from one million organizations, like Amazon, PayPal, Target, Airbnb, Shopify, and Pinterest. And there's very good reason for its popularity — when it comes to internal communication and collaboration, its functionality is truly exceptional. But with great power comes great responsibility.

Almost every day after a European football match, there’s another media headline highlighting a player who received racial abuse on social media. Football clubs condemn it. The content gets reported to social media platforms. Accounts are deleted. Authorities are notified and declare a ‘zero tolerance’ policy against discrimination and prejudiced behavior. Many players share the posts, highlighting the racism they continually face.

The digital revolution has transformed the banking industry. As financial services and associated communications move online, it is more important than ever for institutions to manage and control their online presence.

One of the reasons Slack saw such widespread adoption, especially early on, was the fact that companies could use it for free. Like many SaaS tools, Slack operated on a “freemium” model, meaning organizations could use it for free, and then upgrade as their needs grew.

Both the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lay out strict communication and recordkeeping regulations for investment firms and other financial institutions. These rules encompass almost everything, from the recording of investment activities, to how client data should be kept safe, and even the acceptable use of social media.

Is there a difference between data retention and data preservation? The terms retention and preservation are often treated as synonyms in day-to-day language but they aren’t the same thing.

There’s no doubt that a tool like Slack can improve communication and collaboration within a company—but it also introduces certain legal and compliance risks. Just ask luggage company Away.

We’ve mentioned before how important information governance is. However, with the sudden shift to remote work caused by COVID-19, having thorough systems and processes in place to manage information has proven more important than ever.

As with other social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, compliance and legal professionals often need to archive a Twitter account for official use.