Banking On Social Sites Is A Work In Progress

More than 250 financial institutions from 40 different countries have joined Facebook, looking for friends and future customers while testing the social networking waters. While many of these banks have seen moderate success in engaging customers in discussions or resolving customer service issues, few have had much luck in convincing customers to access their accounts through the social networking site. FarmVille and finances don't mix, according to seven out of 10 US online adults, who say that security and privacy concerns keep them from being interested. Bank eBusiness managers looking to leverage emerging interest to deepen customer relationships need to identify more strongly and clearly to customers the benefits of banking through social networking sites. The best approach in the short term will be to focus on social networking's core strengths: communication, relevance, and community.