Financial institutions find social networking beneficial

A recent report shows that financial institutions may be able to better serve their customers’ bank accounts by tapping into social networking sites on the Internet.

According to Javelin Strategy & Research, 52 percent of U.S. adults who have access to the internet spent part of their time on social networks. However, 47 percent of consumers also said they felt as though these networks were unsafe, and even less said they would consider them as a way to do banking.

The report said that banks have to find methods with which to fight consumer fears about social networking sites in order to tap into that market. James Van Dyke, president of the research company, said that many financial firms already use things like Facebook and Twitter for marketing.

"Our study found that financial institutions can also help consumers better manage their money through the delivery of cutting-edge tools that allow users to get financial alerts, monitor account activity and transfer funds through their social networks," Van Dyke said.

Perhaps consumers may be right to doubt the safety of social networking sites, especially if they aren’t careful with the information they post. Identity thieves may use the sites in order to obtain information they can use to open fraudulent accounts.