I can't think of any advancement, technological or otherwise,that has taken the world by storm with such game-changing resultsas what social media has done. It's no longer enough to have awebsite or other Internet presence; you must now be part of the“untethered” world.

According to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, “the globalsmartphone market should grow 55 percent this year, reaching 472million units sold by the end of 2011. Last year, 305 millionsmartphones were sold across the globe.”

It will more than double again by 2015.

The technology behind today's smartphones are changing sorapidly that manufacturers are continuously releasing new phoneswith each new model incorporating advanced, new features. Couplethat with the incredible mobile app market with a forecasted 38.2billion downloads in 2011—growing to nearly 182.7 billion downloadsanticipated in 2015—and you have a virtual onslaught of technologyin every aspect of life that new apps will have to be created justto keep track of the apps we already have.

Enterprise demands spur growth

Many people believe that some of this growth in smartphones andthe mobile apps that make them smart can be attributed to thegrowing expectation of employees to use them in their workenvironment. As they are clamoring for their employers to providedevices with the latest features, IT departments are faced withhaving to support an ever-widening spread of platforms.

Read Gilman's previous column “Get Visual With Video” aboutdeveloping an integrated marketing plan that includes whatprospects see, hear and read.

While the enterprise infrastructure is being stretched to thelimit, the demands on management to get the “biggest bang for the[mobile] buck” are forcing many to drive the workload well beyondthe conventional workplace. And why not—what does the “mobile” inmobile smartphones mean? Now employees are becoming “untethered”from the office like never before.

Sure, we've had telecommuting employees for years, but that'snot what we're talking about here. Whether you are a 9-to-5-er inthe office 5 days a week, or travel 50 percent of the time forwork, everyone is plugged in 24/7. If your employer gave you themobile phone or tablet and emails, calls or texts you over it, thenthey might be in for a surprise.

I've written a lot about the need for agenciesto leverage social media to heighten their brand awareness,presence on the Web and for the marketing and sales value of it.I've written a bit about the potential for liability exposureshould an agency principal misuse a person's social media historyin the potential hiring or firing of an individual. But here's anissue that has a good news/bad news duality to it.

Liability exposure

First the bad news: If you supplied the mobile phones to youremployee and they are injured as a result of using it, you could beopen to a work comp claim and lawsuit if others were involved,regardless of where it happened. Worse yet, if your employee is oneof the millions of drivers that insist on texting or reading emailsor talking on the phone while behind the wheel and are in a seriousaccident, you could be open to a huge lawsuit.

Far too frequently we hear news stories of terrible caraccidents that resulted from a driver being distracted by theircell phone. That's at the core of 34 states banning the use of textmessaging for all drivers; nine states, D.C. and the Virgin Islandsprohibit all drivers from using handheld cell phones while driving;and some states including Maine, New Hampshire and Utah considercell phone use as part of the larger “distracted driver” issue.

Related:Read Rick Gilman's “Social Media ABCs”.

The exposure comes into play when the distraction is workrelated and a loss occurs. While it may seem clear that theemployee shouldn't have been conducting business in such a manner,without a defined and clearly communicated company policy on theuse of mobile devices, especially those provided by the employer,the company could still be facing significant liabilities.

Studies show that claims made by workers injured whileperforming tasks loosely connected to their work are on theincrease and the growing use of mobile devices is defying theconventional ideas of work-related injuries. Companies can begin tomitigate the exposure by developing a corporate policy for usingmobile devices, making sure all employees are aware of it and thatmanagers don't violate it by making staff use their devices inunsafe environments.

Opening new markets

The good news is, for every business exposure there's apotential insurance protection. This is a new workers' compensationexposure that gives us an opportunity to design new products toprotect our business clients against such losses.

Talk to your carriers and see whether theyhave any coverage that can protect your clients. At a minimum,educate your commercial accounts about this risk and help themmanage it. It doesn't matter the size of the business; the risk isvery real and can be very large.

But exposure to a physical loss outside of the office thatemployers have little control over is only one issue thatcompanies—and agencies, for that matter—should worry about. In someways, even greater damage can be done to a business if the contentgoing out over social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn andFacebook is out of control.

Uncontrolled liabilities

How often have we heard in the news about some YouTube video ortweet that hit the Internet and sent shockwaves around the country?Remember the Dominos Pizza YouTube video of two employees thatthought it would be fun to spit on the food of a customer? Itimmediately went viral and the Dominos brand tanked almost asquickly.

While that is an extreme example, every day businesses arestruggling to have some kind of handle on the social networkingcontent their employees are sending just to try and monitor what'sbeing said internally about their company.

Related: Read “Was it Good For You?” by Rick Gilman.

At the same time, agencies, like many small businesses, arestriving to find the right way to leverage these very powerfultools. Over the past few years, many companies have popped upoffering agents “content in a box” (my term) for putting outinsurance information on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Othervendors have developed guidelines and best practices for managingthe use of social media and still others offer training.

Recently, I came across a new company that combines all threeservices along with in-depth analytical analysis. Hearsay Social,the 2-year old, San Francisco-based social media managementplatform for the insurance industry, gives employees completefreedom to “post like crazy” (as its website describes) whileletting the company continue to protect its brand and keepcompliant from a regulatory perspective.

Think global, act local

Hearsay Social provides companies with a central dashboard tomonitor and archive messages; you can distribute marketingcampaigns and measure the results on both corporate and locallevels.

From a compliance perspective, tracking and accessing issuesapply to social media content similarly to how they apply withemail; it's potentially discoverable in court. Monitoring andarchiving conversations helps to eliminate concerns with FINRA andSEC regulations.

Because Hearsay Social sits on top of social networking tools,distributing content suggestions and campaigns to other agencylocations or producers out in the field is easy and end users cantailor them to their local markets and one-click post to Facebook,LinkedIn and Twitter, keeping brand identity consistent across theenterprise.

Geared more for the large corporation with many locations spreadout across multiple markets, Hearsay Social targets insurancecompanies and banks, including several in the global Fortune 100arena. Insurance agents, on the other hand, wouldn't likely fit themodel for being a direct customer, but are the ideal end user whentheir carrier is concerned about brand consistency and complianceacross the enterprise.

Because all business owners should be concerned with what'sbeing said about their companies by their staff in the social mediaspace, finding solutions that leverage technology, define a clearpolicy and effectively communicate and implement a solid program ofstaff training is needed to transform the potential liability intoan asset.

If you're a captive agent looking for help with socialnetworking content development and/or monitoring activities, talkwith your carrier. Hearsay Social might already be working withthem. Check out its website and Facebook page to find a couple ofcase studies there with Farmers Insurance Group and State Farm thatwill give you added insight as to how their solution works.

If you're an independent agent, contact Heresay Social directly;it may have solutions that are scalable and can provide your agencywith the tools to become compliant, content-rich and aware of howits brand is perceived across the social media landscape. If thatdoesn't work, look for other solutions that might support similarcontrols. In either case, don't let the progress of social media inyour business plans become a runaway train.