Did you know that 75.4 percent of brands now use social media for business purposes, and four out of ten have been doing so for more than two years?

Platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have revolutionised marketing, sales and community engagement for the vast majority of brands, but what about within the workplace itself – are businesses practicing what they preach by letting employees use social media in the office?

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A decent salary is always welcome, but that alone is no longer enough of a glittering lure for young professionals looking for work.

Cisco surveyed 2,800 college students and recently employed graduates and discovered that two thirds will actively enquire about a firm’s social media policies during a job interview, with some 56% refusing to work at a company that bans social media.

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A new global study suggests that virus and malware attacks within the workplace have increased because employees are using Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms in the office, largely for personal reasons.

Ponemon Institute, a research organization, polled 4,640 companies around the world, and more than half said that computer attacks had grown directly as a result of staff using social networks.

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Does your business have a social media policy? While it’s certainly true that platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have become an integral part of the marketing campaigns for many brands, it seems like every other week we read about some publicity disaster because a disgruntled employee, PR firm or naïve CEO tweets something offensive or plain stupid from a corporate account.

This infographic from Mindflash looks at how companies are policing social media in the workplace.

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Okay. So what are you going to do about it?

Chances are if Twitter (or Facebook, for that matter) is blocked at your company then the person who made that decision almost certainly doesn’t use Twitter and is therefore completely ignorant about the benefits.

Don’t just accept it – educate them.

Of course, you have to understand the difference between using Twitter productively and goofing around, and be able to demonstrate that effectively.

Because if YOU don’t know, how can you possibly expect them to?