Those of us who are older — which increasingly feels like almost all of us — will never forget the opening pool-side scene in the classic movie “The Graduate” when Benjamin was advised that his future should be in “plastics.”
Well, the other day I overheard some high-level colleagues, with roughly the same absence of insight that blew over Benjamin's head when he was handed his future in plastics, talking about how “social media” and “digital” are two of their boardroom's really great opportunities.  
Unless your company is a social media company like Facebook, which means you're struggling as virtually every such company in this sector is with fulsomely monetizing the myriad social interactions for which you are the ‘umbrella,' then you probably think that for your company, social media is the greatest thing since white rice — and that this new corporate manna will readily bring you untold benefits and perhaps even additional profit.
However, with every corporate yin there almost always comes a yang, and thus, given human nature, for every bit of benefit and positive feedback that might flow to your company from
social media, there will likely be factors — such as adverse comments and complaints about you which will hang out there in the Internet ether until the end of time — unless you and your managers at every level quickly get out in front of this brave new world. (See “Should What Happens at Applebee's Stay at Applebee's?” by Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic, Feb. 1, 2013.)
And as for “digital,” this imprecise word means at once almost everything and nothing, since essentially nothing today is not digital in one form or another. Even good old amorphous “plastics” back in its day had more precision in its definition that does today the virtually all-encompassing word “digital.” About the only aspect of “digital” outside the day-to-day dynamics of a company that has resonance is when digital means enhanced and less costly communications and telecommunications with a company's customers, suppliers and shareholders.
Social media is a completely different kettle of fish than “Plain Old Digital” (which is really just the new-age version of “Plain Old Telephone Service” or POTS), and in simplest terms social media is best thought of as lateral social interactions among a “community of interest” defined by such characteristics as common friendships, faith, vocation and avocation. However, social media can also mean common purchasers and common stockholders, which, from a corporation's point of view, is where the rubber hits the road. Communities of interest based around shared academics, shared parenting experiences, shared faith, and shared sports affinities are ideal for social networks, and there may even be significant commercial value for the ‘sponsor' behind a community's gathering (whether the sponsor is Facebook or a specialty products company like L.L. Bean) provided the members of the community want to be advertised to and/or don't mind their data being sold and thus their privacy compromised.
But social networks among common stockholders or among common purchasers of generic consumer goods and services almost always attract many more discontented parties than satisfied ones. Again, this is just human nature. Thus this is the area to which boards need to pay very close attention.
The most challenging and problematic social network for any company, of course, is the anonymous network that might exist among its employees: current and contented; current and not contented; and, especially, not current and not contented. It's also within this particular network that bigotry and cyber bullying reside, which can tear a company apart and which carry with them enormous potential liability.
My advice regarding social networks is to be more worried about their pitfalls than you are bullish on their opportunities. Boards should be fully aware of the positives and the negatives of social media — but especially the negatives — and it only should be approached with all-of-company involvement. â–
The author can be contacted at comments@intermediaadvisors.com. He is the former CEO of AT&T Broadband and its predecessors, Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI) and Liberty Media, and is currently an investor in media companies.