Social media - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and so forth - has become a way of life for companies and their employees to interact with the public, but beating back the fraudsters that try to prey on customers, not to mention keeping employees from spilling sensitive data, is becoming a full-time job for many.

Consider this scenario: Summer is approaching and your work keeps piling up. You consider hiring an intern to lessen your load, but debate it because training him can feel like a second job.

As the earnings season wanes, quarterly financial reports from the tech sector continue to be mixed, though shares in IT companies are still up for the year.

LinkedIn is acquiring SlideShare, which allows its users to share presentations online, for US$118.75 million as it tries to find new ways to make its site more useful, the company said on Thursday.

If you're job hunting or looking to expand your professional network, many people turn to LinkedIn and its portfolio of features and tools to browse job listings, connect with colleagues, ask questions, join groups and more.

When I signed up for a Twitter account in the summer of 2009 I spent some time thinking about whether or not I should protect my tweets. As a novice Twitter user, I had to decide whether the benefits of protecting my tweets outweighed the drawbacks. Looking back, I do not regret my decision to protect my tweets, and I'll tell you why.

With more than 80 million users worldwide, LinkedIn has established itself as the premier social networking site for professionals. If you're job searching, looking to broaden your network or hunting for new partnerships, these 10 tips and tricks will propel you toward success.

LinkedIn has become a dominant player in the recruitment and human resource space in the past few years, with 150 million members and availability in 200 countries

When the popular Web site Gawker was hacked into recently, more than a million user IDs and passwords were released. If you were one of the people compromised that's annoying -- very annoying. Not that it's a big deal that someone could log into a gossip site under your name. But many of those people used those same IDs and passwords on other sites that are a wee bit more important, such as LinkedIn. Now, that's a problem.

LinkedIn announced this week a new paid account exclusively for job seekers called the Job Seeker Premium Account. The upgrade, LinkedIn says, is intended to help LinkedIn members stand out from the crowd, reach out to hiring decision makers and manage their job search more effectively.

What "Answers" Is:

How familiar are you with LinkedIn Groups? This section of the social networking site (found on the top navigation bar) is dedicated to communities of professionals based on common interests, experiences, affiliation and goals. Groups can be a great source of industry information and discussions, as well as an effective way to connect with likeminded professionals.