A few months ago, TechCrunch ran a blog post that looked at the link between the cut back on corporate spending and the up-tick in the corporate adoption/investment of social media.And, the more I think about it. The more it makes sense in more ways than one.First is pure cost-savings. The “pay for what you use on our servers” is a dream solution to the ever-increasing costs of traditional software seats and maintenance which can have a teetering effect on TOC. The bulk of software budgets is patches, upgrades, support, etc. Then there’s the ‘cool’ factor. A few months ago, I wrote (to the chagrin of a few people) about the need for companies to get with the program and up their cool factor so they can continue to attract the best and the brightest. What better way to segue into cool than to have your hand ‘forced’ by economics?Then there’s the whole streamlining effect. Not only are social media and Web 2.0 apps cheaper to maintain, but it’s also one less thing you have to maintain … so adoption frees you up (yeah, right!) to work on other projects — like how to get rid of Vista.Sometime last year, it was reported (can’t remember where) that Berkshire Hathaway was using Jive for their internal wiki, blog and social networking needs. Now, let’s be real: If anyone can afford whatever they want it’s the folks at BH. But, hey, they opted to go Web 2.0. Those who live behind the firewall always ask the question, “The Web 2.0 model might be cheaper, but what about security?” As someone who works in this industry daily — and has for over 10 years — that argument is getting weaker by the minute. It’s a well-known fact that only 17 to 20 percent (depending on your source) of security breaches are reported to authorities. And, because most corporations have NOT adopted social media and Web 2.0 tools, that means there are other non-Web 2.0 sources of vulnerabilities. Gasp! Technology Industry