Statistics and statisticians have been around for a very long time. In fact, some scholars believe data analysis began as far back as 1662, the year a curious – if slightly macabre – Brit named John Graunt published Natural and Political Observations upon the Bills of Mortality. Statistics are a science, and they’re important for corporations for a number of reasons. They measure historical performance and forecast future targets. And for CEOs and investors, they provide insight into how areas of their business are performing, and help to predict and track trends to get a bead on what’s working, and what isn’t.

Social media engagement for business is definitely trending at the moment, and here’s an interesting statistic about it: in a 2010 study of the 100 largest Fortune 500 companies, 79% of them were found to be using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and corporate blogs to engage with customers and communicate with other stakeholders.

While those percentages are pretty impressive, many of those top 100 companies are what you would think of as social media givens. Big box electronics, department stores, gas, oil, car and communications companies are all represented. But what’s really interesting about the study is this: among those top 100 companies heavily invested in social media are major banks, insurance and health care corporations, and other such highly regulated and very sensitive industries.

Social media and ‘sensitive industries’ sounds like an oxymoron. But it isn’t. And while executives in these fields might be a slightly harder sell than, say, those in the music industry, statistics show they are buying it – and succeeding. So how do they do it?

Our upcoming panel at Social 2011 Staying Private in an Increasingly Public World is going to explore just that. Panelists Ellen Diebold, Social Media Consultant at Humana; Janie Graziani, Manager, New Media & Technology for AAA; and Forest Kenney, Manager, External Communications at Molson Coors Canada are experts at, as they call it, One To One To Many. Help one person privately via email and direct messaging, yet ensure that the lessons learned are used to help the rest of the community at a more public level.

One of the key elements of social engagement in heavily regulated industries is leaving a large digital footprint. While most of the magic might be happening offline, make sure your community knows you definitely are listening, responding and helping.

The bottom line is there are plenty of things to talk about on Twitter and Facebook, without having to compromise private information. And a crisis won’t occur if you share a little.

What do you think? Is it appropriate for industries that deal with highly sensitive personal information to have a presence in the social media world? Do you trust social media experts with your personal health or financial data? How does your organization deal with private dealings in a very public online world? And what questions would you like our panel to answer?

Tags: Fortune 500, online privacy in social media, Radian6 Social 2011, statistics