In an article titled “Social media's untapped potential”. Peter Swabey argues that despite its unequivocal success in modern society there is much yet to be taken from social media by business; its uses can stretch far beyond the current collaboration and marketing tools as perceived today into a form of Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

Swabey observes that social media provides a platform for customers to discuss their experiences unmediated by the organization; it also allows employees to collaborate on a horizontal level. Both cases equate to the same thing; a loss of control for traditional corporate management mindset. However as Swabey points out this opens a number of opportunities including the ability to track market sentiment, promote knowledge sharing within the enterprise, and perhaps most importantly, build trust among both customers and employees.

Talking about the findings of the Effective IT Survey, Swabey observes that at present many social media deployments have also been internal. He notes that some commentators believe that the influence of social media on business will stretch far beyond collaboration and marketing giving customers a voice and making organisations more transparent.

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