In a 1967 episode of “Star Trek” called “The Trouble with Tribbles,” Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise face a problem caused by adorable and furry little creatures called tribbles.

Tribbles are irresistible to all who come into contact with them, even the Enterprise’s first officer, the stoic and logical Vulcan, Mr. Spock. However, like most things in life, tribbles come with pros and cons. The pros? Well, they just plain make people feel good. The cons? As Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy and Spock discover, tribbles are born pregnant and are always hungry.

In other words, tribbles reproduce and consume food at an accelerated rate. In that sense, tribbles have a lot in common with emails, Twitter tweets and other forms of social networking. Like Tribbles, sending emails and tweets can be a lot of fun. Also like tribbles, emails and tweets quickly multiply by the gazillions and take up massive amounts of network storage space.

What captains of industry have only begun to see is that astronomical numbers of emails, tweets and Facebook posts can jeopardize an enterprise’s prospect of success in a dispute. And yes, the puns are very much intended.