As employees spend more time personally and professionally posting on social media sites, companies urgently need to understand how to restrict such use to mitigate corruption risk – while at the same time maximizing the compliance benefits social media can offer.  In this, the first article in our series on the advantages and pitfalls of social media, we discuss how companies can use social media to aid with due diligence of third parties and target companies; the limits of using social media for those purposes; government expectations; and how to use social media during internal investigations.  The second article will discuss: best practices for including social media in compliance policies, such as in training, messaging and monitoring compliance programs; how social media use can help demonstrate good behavior to the government; and how to handle the risks that including social media as part of a compliance program pose.  See “In-House Experts Discuss Social Media Pitfalls and Compliance Opportunities” (Jul. 23, 2014).