Scams & shams: The trouble with social networks

Some threats come from inside. In an April survey of more than 2,000 U.S. employees and executives by Deloitte LLP, nearly three quarters of the employees said that it was easy to damage a company's reputation using social media -- and 15% said they would post comments online if their company did something they didn't agree with.

That could be a big problem for WWE, since employees who know the storylines of its scripted events could spill the beans. "If those outcomes were revealed, it would destroy the experience for the fans," Dienes-Middlen says, so all WWE employees are required to sign confidentiality agreements.

Diversionary Tactics

Social networks also have been used by scammers to lure a brand's customers to malware or phishing sites -- or to e-commerce sites hawking counterfeit or gray-market products. According to a survey by MarkMonitor, which tracks online threats for its clients, in the 12-month period ending in the second quarter of this year, phishing attacks on social networking sites increased by 164%.

In a CMO Council survey of 4,500 senior marketing executives, nearly 20% of the respondents said they had been affected by online scams and phishing schemes that had hijacked brand names. It was the third-biggest category, right behind cybersquatting or illegal use of a trademarked name, and the illegal copying of digital media content. The fourth category was online sales of fake products that contain deficient or dangerous ingredients.