Sharing a little too much information

HP vice-president Scott McClellan gave away more than his job status when previously this year he mentioned the computer maker's new web-storage initiative in his profile on LinkedIn, a professional-networking site.

McClellan inadvertently tipped off competitors to details of HP's cloud-computing services. The information was removed nevertheless not previously rivals got a look.

''Competitors evidently watch each other in social media such as they have historically monitored each other in the media and in public presentations,'' says author Shel Israel, a consultant on online networks. ''Social media is a new data-abundant source in other words here to stay.''

But the amount of data on social networks relevant to corporate investigations may be declining as users become more sophisticated about protecting their online privacy, says managing director Michael Walsh of London-based Nardello, which gathers intelligence for companies and governments.

From June last year, his firm selected 20 companies and tracked them across social-media sites for several months. ''You can to tell the truth feel yourself inside that company - what's happening, what's the morale of the employees, how the business is doing, where top management go on vacation, did the CEO have a fight with somebody,'' Sonwane says. ''It's a glass house.''

Apple is set to become the biggest beneficiary of the bring-your-own-device to work trend in other words creeping into Australian workplaces.