FaceTime Launches Socialite SaaS Solution to Secure Social Networks

Online, August 16, 2010 (Newswire.com) - BELMONT, Calif - August 16, 2010 - FaceTime Communications (www.facetime.com), the pioneers in the safe and productive use of unified communications and Web 2.0, today introduced Socialite, a security management and compliance solution for social networks. Socialite provides granular control of applications like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and is available as a software-as-a-service deployment (SaaS) or as an on-premises solution as a module of FaceTime's Unified Security Gateway. Socialite is also the first solution to be deployable as a hybrid solution to deliver the ability to define an on-network policy and a roaming policy for people off-network. Now, organizations can deliver control over social media features and communications for both users on the corporate network and for those situated remotely.

Social media use in the workplace has become commonplace as employees in all departments are turning to additional channels to expand their outreach to customers, partners, prospects, vendors and others. In fact, the 2010 Annual Collaborative Internet Survey, sponsored by FaceTime, reveals that 61 percent of workers use social networks daily while on the corporate network. Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have become particularly popular because of their effectiveness in contacting prospects, screening job candidates, promoting events and extending business communications. However, the social media usage by sales, marketing, human resources and other departments places new demands on organizations to meet security, management and compliance requirements.

Recent regulations changes, such as the Financial Industry Regulatory Advisory (FINRA) Regulatory Notice 10-06, issued guidance to securities firms and brokers on communicating with the public through social networking sites. The notice clarifies the responsibilities of firms to supervise the use of social networking sites to ensure that recommendations are suitable and their customers are not misled. It also addresses the requirements of record keeping. The UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) also issued specific guidance on social networks usage in June 2010.

"Organizations in regulated industries are faced with the need to manage the features used and content posted on social networks in order to protect themselves and their customers," said Erin Traudt, Research Director, Enterprise Collaboration and Social Solutions for IDC. "FaceTime's heritage in the IM and Unified Communications markets should play well as communications move into the social arena, but still require security and compliance controls."

With Socialite, customers have an extended set of feature and content controls for more than 1,000 social networks to ensure compliance with a variety of rules and regulations. In Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, the three key social networks, Socialite enables control for 95 distinct activity and content features. Socialite can also moderate and archive content shared on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to ensure that only pre-approved content is shared.

"The corporate environment is no longer limited to the corporate network, creating challenges in control and management of conversations as they move beyond the firewall. Coupled with ever changing regulatory and compliance standards, the management of collaborative communications is becoming increasingly complex," says Kailash Ambwani, CEO of FaceTime Communications. "Socialite addresses these challenges by offering comprehensive control and management over the wide variety of social media channels, integrating seamlessly with existing IT infrastructures."

Socialite delivers key benefits to organizations requiring the secure and compliant use of social networks, including:

- Identity Management: the ability to establish a single corporate identity and track users across multiple social media platforms e.g. @SarahFaceTime on Twitter and Sarah Louise Carter on LinkedIn
- Data leak prevention: preventing sensitive data from leaving the company, either maliciously or inadvertently
- Granular Application Control: enabling the access to Facebook and its thousands of "applets" by category or individual application
- Activity control: the ability to manage access to features, such as who can read, like, comment upon or access 95 distinct features on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter
- Moderator control: can be applied to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter where content is required to be pre-approved by a corporate communications officer or other third party
- Log conversation and content: capture all posts, messages and commentary made to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter in context, as well as exporting to an archive of choice for eDiscovery

Socialite is available now as a yearly SaaS subscription starting at $12 per user per month for 100 users or as an on-premise deployment for $5,000 for 100 users.

About FaceTime Communications
FaceTime Communications enables the safe and productive use of Unified Communications and Web 2.0, including instant messaging, blogs and social networking. Ranked number one by IDC for five consecutive years, FaceTime's award-winning solutions are used by more than 1,500 customers for the security, management and compliance of real-time communications. FaceTime supports or has strategic partnerships with all leading IM, unified communications providers and social networks including AOL, Google, Yahoo!, Skype, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
FaceTime is headquartered in Belmont, California. For more information visit http://www.facetime.com or call 1-888-349-FACE. The FaceForward blog, at http://blog.facetime.com, offers thoughts and opinions about the changing nature of Internet communications.

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