You're not alone, according to Panda Security, which released its first annual Social Media Risk Index for small- and medium-sized businesses - with kudos to Doug Cornelius, of Compliance Building, for the alert. 

Panda surveyed 315 US 'SMBs' with up to 1,000 employees in July.  They found:  (i) 33% of these companies had experienced a malware or virus infection from social networks;  and, (ii) 23% cited employee privacy violations resulting in the loss of sensitive data from social networks.  Panda concluded that Facebook provided the majority of the reported malware and privacy violations - which shouldn't be a surprise, since Facebook is the most widely used social media site.  What surprised Mr. Cornelius was that Twitter was a significant source of the problems - despite being half the size of Facebook, although its popularity is much less than half. 

Mr. Cornelius thinks the problem pertains to the widespread use of URL shorteners in Twitter.  A link from "NYTimes.com" is a better known source than, say, one from "nigerianmoneymakingtips.com."   But, how can you tell what the link is, when it's hidden behind the URL shortener - e.g., http://bit.ly/aBzaiB.  

C-I Note:  While malware and privacy concerns shouldn't deter businesses from using these Web tools, it would make sense to recognize the additional threats, and to spread the word among firms and clients - much like people's awareness of, and ability to spot, emails containing spam or malicious viruses.  While waiting for technology to catch up, we'll let employees and associated persons avoid social network malware infections the "old fashioned way" - by being mentally alert.  

[ComplianceBuilding.com, 9/22]