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Facebook should be banned in all workplaces for the sake of productivity. This seems to be the opinion held by a good number of companies in countries such as the U.S., Britain, and Australia where social networking sites as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Bebo and others have had such a surging popularity in places of work.
Those opposed to social networks in workplaces fear, in addition to declining productivity due to cyber slacking as employees spend more working hours online, espionage on company’s confidential information, and a tarnished reputation for the company.
In October 2007, surveys around the use of Facebook in workplaces estimated that businesses faced a cost of Ksh 16.3 billion a day as employees spend inappropriate amount of time chatting with friends.
Indeed, in the U.S. this clarion call to have social networks blacklisted in workplaces has had some headway. A survey conducted late last year by Robert Half Technology, revealed that over half of U.S. workplaces block social networks. Of the companies surveyed, 54% block these sites “completely,” while 10% permit social network use on the job for any kind of personal use and 16% allow “limited” personal use.
Statistics on Britain and Australia are not readily available online but it is clear that most employers in these countries contemplate following suit.
But Facebook and its sympathizers argue that companies should consider imperative role played by social networks in people’s every day lives rather than rashly banning them from offices and other workplaces.
Facebook says that its site sees to it that “people with real-world connections share information and communicate with some ease.” And with regard to employees, they say that, it has some advantages when it comes to communication amongst a company’s employees.
Web blogger Mark Drepeau who comments a lot on social media and its impact on workplaces feels that social networks can be seen as “collaboration tools” in workplaces. Says Drepeau, “social networks are a means by which to accomplish something-collaboration.” He says that work can be both fun and productive too.
Even then, it is such a tall order to ban Facebook and suchlike sites from places of work even partially. This is because “social networks,” according to Robert Half Technology, “have become so ingrained in culture and communication that companies choosing to block them can appear draconian rather than prudent.”
Because the real problems have been employees spending more time online, or putting the reputation of the company at risk, experts have preferred “responsible internet use” to any sort of ban at workplaces.
A professor at RMTI who concedes that even though “network is important to business productivity is the most thing” says that banning of social networks may prevent people from learning about the modern world.
His advice to employees is to alter privacy settings to limit who can see your “newsfeed” so that your co-workers can’t know how active you’re being on Facebook while at work. In addition to altering privacy settings, he suggests to those employees permitted to use Facebook responsibly to create two accounts, a professional one for serious job-related issues and a personal account for chats with family members and friends.
Generally you are advised to be aware of employer’s policies, not to complain about co-workers or boss online and keeping tabs on usage so that it’s not too much of a time stock.
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