Social Networking Blackouts

January 30, 2008

Ragan.com and PollStream did a poll regarding social media access at work. Interesting (or maybe not) is that fear drives managers to ban social media at work. What sites do managers keep employees from accessing?

  • Flickr
  • Twitter
  • Squidoo
  • Second Life
  • Blogs
  • Podcasts
  • Video-sharing sites
  • Anything streaming

    • Respondents were 400+ professional communicators from North & South America, Australia, and Europe. See what some respondents say are their great challenges and be sure to take a look at the comments too. What’s the policy at your organization? Is social media banned? Should it be?

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    • http://micktl.vox.com/ Mick Leyden

      We’ve just opened the lid on Facebook. We’re toying with using it as a central communication point for sharing resources within our team. In theory it should be great, we have team members based in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth but so far contributions have only been by the people who are really keen or those who have been pushed.

      It will be interesting to see how it goes over the next couple of months.

      As for should they be blocked? I like to think that an organisation has enough faith in their staff that blocking potential ‘distractions’ is unnecessary. However I know in my former life as a Call Centre trainer we needed to block EVERYTHING if we wanted anyone to tune in to training or listen to the customer.

      m

    • http://www.brandon-hall.com/ Janet Clarey

      Hi Mick-
      Interesting. Are you able to see any trends? (prior experience with SNSs, age, location, gender, role)

      My own experience with failed social networks is that there was nothing to DO there and there was no one to facilitate. They were just kind of…’here you go’ networks. They were niche networks though.

      Facebook, of course, isn’t a niche network so it’s interesting to see how employees will use it when there is a personal element. For many, I imagine that won’t be a problem. Work/life is one in the same now anyway.

      I agree blocking is a matter of trust…

    • http://www.brandon-hall.com Janet Clarey

      Hi Mick-
      Interesting. Are you able to see any trends? (prior experience with SNSs, age, location, gender, role)

      My own experience with failed social networks is that there was nothing to DO there and there was no one to facilitate. They were just kind of…’here you go’ networks. They were niche networks though.

      Facebook, of course, isn’t a niche network so it’s interesting to see how employees will use it when there is a personal element. For many, I imagine that won’t be a problem. Work/life is one in the same now anyway.

      I agree blocking is a matter of trust…

    • http://www.daveswhiteboard.com/ Dave Ferguson

      Blocking isn’t only a matter of trust, I don’t think; it’s also a matter of status. I can imagine Mick’s call center managers wanting to keep the grunts working on the digital assembly line. But how many people not on the front line were checking sports sites, shopping at Amazon, selling on eBay… or posting comments on blogs?

      (And then there’s the Gaelic proverb, “a man known as an early riser can sleep late.”)

    • http://www.daveswhiteboard.com Dave Ferguson

      Blocking isn’t only a matter of trust, I don’t think; it’s also a matter of status. I can imagine Mick’s call center managers wanting to keep the grunts working on the digital assembly line. But how many people not on the front line were checking sports sites, shopping at Amazon, selling on eBay… or posting comments on blogs?

      (And then there’s the Gaelic proverb, “a man known as an early riser can sleep late.”)

    • http://www.brandon-hall.com/ Janet Clarey

      Many non-front line employees are expected to be connected on their ‘own time.’ An organization should respect that and allow the employee to use some ‘work time’ to do non-work related stuff.

      I’ve seen this trust issue played out many times…’they don’t let me take 15 minutes and shop online, screw them…I’m not working a minutes more than I need to.’

      Before that though, organizations need to see that all social media is not junk. They need to see the value.

      And, thanks for commenting on my blog BTW…now get back to work!

    • http://www.brandon-hall.com Janet Clarey

      Many non-front line employees are expected to be connected on their ‘own time.’ An organization should respect that and allow the employee to use some ‘work time’ to do non-work related stuff.

      I’ve seen this trust issue played out many times…’they don’t let me take 15 minutes and shop online, screw them…I’m not working a minutes more than I need to.’

      Before that though, organizations need to see that all social media is not junk. They need to see the value.

      And, thanks for commenting on my blog BTW…now get back to work!

    • http://micktl.vox.com/ Mick Leyden

      We've just opened the lid on Facebook. We're toying with using it as a central communication point for sharing resources within our team. In theory it should be great, we have team members based in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth but so far contributions have only been by the people who are really keen or those who have been pushed.

      It will be interesting to see how it goes over the next couple of months.

      As for should they be blocked? I like to think that an organisation has enough faith in their staff that blocking potential 'distractions' is unnecessary. However I know in my former life as a Call Centre trainer we needed to block EVERYTHING if we wanted anyone to tune in to training or listen to the customer.

      m

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