<p>The concept of the social business has been lauded for years as the combination of social collaboration and existing business processes. However, the reality of social business has been difficult to achieve for many businesses for one fundamental reason: Social networking and collaboration is fundamentally a radioactive technology.</p><p>What does this mean and how does your company need to plan for social radioactivity? Why Radioactive?</p><p>First, consider what radioactivity truly is. From a chemical perspective, radioactivity literally means that an unstable substance is emitting energy and particles. This spontaneous emission of energy can be explosive if the radioactive substance is in a nuclear bomb. It can be helpful when it is controlled in a nuclear reactor to power the world. And it can have long lasting consequences if released in an unmanaged and unplanned fashion.</p><p>In this context, social networking suddenly makes more sense. We have seen the viral power of funny topics such as Mckayla Maroney or Grumpy Cat as social water cooler topics. We've also seen the potential harm of poorly conceptualized social media in 2013 when Epicurious had a tone deaf response to the Boston marathon bombing and HMV social media employees live-tweeted their own firing. But there are also companies that have used their own social standing to improve their branding and business processes.</p><p><a href="http://www.cmswire.com/cms/social-business/the-radioactive-new-age-of-social-business-024108.php">Keep reading...</a></p>