As a regular viewer of the TV show “Downton Abbey,” I was interested to read a couple of weeks ago about series writer Julian Fellowes upbraiding the cast for careless use of social media.

Apparently, Richard E. Grant, star of the cult movie “Withnail and I” and a guest star on the next series of Downton, tweeted a photo of himself on the set.

Upon learning of the tweet, Mr. Fellowes reportedly said that actors on the show needed to understand that anything they tweet about the hugely popular drama is scrutinized, and they risk giving away plotlines through seemingly harmless comments.

Given that Mr. Grant's Twitter photo shows him in full evening dress, which seems to be the standard evening attire of the aristocrats and gentry in the show, it's hard to see what he risked giving away, other than yet more publicity for the next season.

But in the real world, giving away trade secrets on Twitter and other social media is a real concern.

Employees at all levels of an organization are in a position to disclose information by inadvertently using social media platforms. Therefore, guarding against the potential for that disclosure requires some creative thinking.

Of course, there are some obvious safeguards, such as reminding senior executives they should not use Facebook to reveal information that should be disclosed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission first. But other risks are not so apparent.

For example, analysis of a sales executive's new LinkedIn contacts might give away a new business strategy, if the connections are all working in a particular industry. Or the geolocation capabilities of Facebook can tip off a competitor that the executive is scouting a particular region for business.

Obviously, you can show an executive how to block locator capabilities and how to tighten privacy settings, but you need to be proactive.

And that's just the basics. If a company has a strong social media presence, sophisticated analysis of social media messaging can reveal underlying themes and provide a common thread for competitors to pull at and unravel confidential information.

The good news is 89% of companies that have a social media policy address the issue of disclosure of company information. The bad news is only 63% of companies have a social media policy.

At the same time, 68% of companies put a high value on the use of social media as a business tool, and that figure is only going to grow.

Given the huge opportunity to use social media to promote and win business, companies have to embrace the platforms.

As they implement those strategies, it's crucial they also introduce practical guidance and detailed training on how employees should use social media.

If not, they could be a “like,” a “connection” or 140 characters away from giving away the family silver.