The way we see it, there are two reasons to take out an insurance policy.

The first reason is because you think disaster is imminent or likely, and are looking to protect yourself and/or mitigate any financial damage.

The second reason is far more encouraging. In the event you’re considering taking a risk, having adequate insurance protection against such risk may make that gamble worth taking.

It is because of this second reason we applaud the American Bankers Association for its recent announcement that it will now include social networking coverage as part of its suite of internet liability policies offered through its ABA Insurance Services program. The new coverage is free with the standard policy, and addresses claims made by or on behalf of customers or regulatory agencies. It also includes coverage for regulatory correction expenses, according to a statement.

Massachusetts is unique in many ways, not the least of which is that our beloved Bay State is among the most technologically and intellectually sophisticated places in the country, if not the world. Hop online, and there’s a good chance that if the technology and technology provider you’re using isn’t currently based here, it was at least conceptualized, created or otherwise developed (at least in part) here. There’s a reason tech luminaries like IBM and Google have such a large presence in the commonwealth.

But despite all our hard-earned tech-savviness, when it comes to banking, Massachusetts community bankers remain, to be kind, conservative. The technological and social networking boom we have all largely embraced privately has been mostly absent from our bank branches.

And that’s OK, to a point. Our local community banks and bankers have weathered the storm of the past few years – and countless storms before that – precisely because they were so conservative and cautious. Nobody is asking that they up and abandon their reliable Yankee fundamentals overnight in the name of social and technological progress.

But we’ve also written in this space that our community banking institutions are running the risk of getting left behind if they continue to be as cautious (read: reluctant) as they’ve been in adopting social media. Their policies are currently disjointed and misguided at best, ineffective and damaging at worst. Sooner or later, it will cost them business – a lot of business.

Which is why the ABA’s latest offering makes so much sense. Rather than serving as a fallback for imminent disaster, we’re inclined to view the association’s new policy as a gentle prod to get bankers into the social media game in a more meaningful way.

This new program offers something bankers can point to and say, “Now there’s no reason not to.” If you remove the fear of failure and/or mistakes (which are almost inevitable), you take more reasons for not getting involved off the table.

No one can say the ABA doesn’t know its constituency. We know they’ve offered probably hundreds of seminars and classes and expert assurances on all the great benefits a comprehensive social media program can provide. And that’s all well and good, and necessary, to an extent.

But offering an insurance program is something far more tangible and in line with conservative bankers’ conservative views. They may not understand Facebook or Twitter, but they get insurance. They understand its black and white protections, its policy perks and limitations. One could argue that this new program is, in fact, too long in coming.

And we can be certain that if the ABA’s social media and internet policy is not to a given bank’s liking, there are certain to be other private options available in coming months, if not already.

If these new protections, combined with our changing times and socially and technology progressive locale, are still not enough to get bankers more invested with social media, then we dare say perhaps they ought to be left behind.