Monday, November 26, 2007
There are many issues that coming to surface with the advent of facebook and its growing popularity. People now go on the site while at work spending time on the site chatting with friends and networking, but many companies are starting to get scared that company information is being discussed through these forms. I for feel that if secrets are going to get out they will get out regardless if facebook is that avenue. They can come out through email, over the phone, in person, so whether or not facebook is that avenue does it really matter? Blocking facebook would do nothing; people will find new and better ways to communicate so why cause friction between the employees and the company. If the company is smart they would monitor how much time someone spends on the site, and go through different channels to ensure that the employee is not abusing the privilege. A happy worker is a diligent work, if it’s blocked I’m sure the employee thinks that there is no trust between worker and employee, I know I felt that way when I was at my old job and Internet access was blocked, not only was it blocked but a lot of sites that I could have used for work were blocked, so my productivity was down since I spent a lot of time finding someone with that access to do my work. I say we live in a Technological age where info needs to be at our fingertips, and if Facebook helps people get that info then why not let us have it, however, we must make sure that it is monitored properly, if it is misused then consequences should be issued..
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7 comments:
Chris;
You make some good points. I know that my work blocked out both facebook and even youtube. Howver ever since youtube created ca.youtube.com, I know that people that I work with have once again been able to get there.
People will always find a way.
I am not sure that businesses fear that employees will be disclosing private information about the company. It seems that the main reason that the employers block internet is because they don't actually understand how or why communication tools like Facebook are being used.
I think that companies block Facebook not that company secrets will be passed on, but that the employees waste valuable work time. I believe that employees should be allowed to visit any site they wish as long as they are being productive and finish their work.
I think you make some very good points, but I'd like to address your comment "...info needs to be at our fingertips, and if Facebook helps people get that info then why not let us have it". Well, for a number of reasons. Facebook is full of information that is user generated, such as in blogs like this. From one of my peer's blogs, I recently learned that "RBC recently decided to venture into the cyber world to grow their market presence by hiring student bloggers to assist in spreading the word of financial saavy." If companies are hiring bloggers to tell their story, it is likely that the information will be biased to benefit the user (or company). Therefore, while I think it's a good idea to get information from any source you can, I think it's equally important to ensure the validity of the source.
well, i kind of disagree because as i was googleing on the net, i found out that employers are even using social networking sites
such as Facebook and MySpace as a tool to do background check in order to hire or even fire some of the current employees.
so that is bringing up some legal issues as if it is legal for business owners to do such a thing.
I think that most businesses are mainly concerned that FB leads to a loss in productivity vs. the threat of information security (although both seem to be a concern). I understand that there are security threats from using FB ut I agree with Kostya that that companies don't really understand how or why FB is being used. I believe that they might be hiding behind the excuse so that they don't have to spend additional time and money figuring out how to manage the tool at this time!
I agree with most of the things that you are saying, especially if secrets are going to get out, they are going to get out. I disagree that every business requires social networking sites to communicate. I think it’s a personal choice of business companies whether to let their employees access sites like facebook or not. Daniel Lublin, an employment law expert based in Toronto states that from a legal perspectives employers have all the right to prohibit the use of social networking at work. He further states reasons such as risk of sharing a company’s valuable information by accident. For example, when you post something up on facebook, it is available for everyone to see. Another reason is sometimes employees spend considerable amount of time doing non business related things as chatting or sending mails. For example, a study showed that using social networking sites are costing employers more than $5 billion a year, and which is putting their business at risk. In addition, Lublin says that by linking a user with their work place user, it allows and indirectly encourages employees to discuss about work. Furthermore, U.S. recruiters are searching the personal lives of individuals on facebook before hiring them.
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