Beware of Facebook! It will crush your productivity and hijack your employees!

While we’re at it, why don’t we make employees log in a little diary every phone call they make, for how long, to whom, and what they talked about. Talking with family? Friends? Or a travel agent? Let’s ban it.

Oh yeah, the bathroom. Let’s give each employee one bathroom pass per day with a time limit of no more than 5 minutes for each visit. Better yet, let’s install cameras in the bathroom to ensure they’re using that time wisely instead of gossiping or snorting coke!

 

I cannot believe we’re still having this conversation, but then again I can; there are a lot of incredibly stupid executives that are badly out of touch with reality. These are the same executives that spend part of their work week on the golf course, or Golf.com. It’s a tired refrain by now, but I keep seeing stories about Facebook and other website bans so it’s worth repeating: don’t ban Facebook, embrace it.

 

Employees prefer to be treated as adults. Judge their performance and actions instead of counting their minutes spent doing “productive work.”

 

Trust me, the threat and problems stemming from a ban far exceed the embrace option. Prescient Digital Media’s Julian Mills last week highlighted the findings of one recent survey that warned of the perils of banning Facebook:   

    • 39% of 18 to 24 year-olds would consider leaving if they were not allowed to access sites like Facebook and YouTube
    • A further 21% indicated that they would feel ‘annoyed’ by such a ban
    • The problem is less acute with 25 to 65 year-olds, of whom just 16% would consider leaving and 13% would be annoyed

    Telindus conducted the survey of 1,000 European office workers. Can you imagine the results in North America? In Canada, 90% of 18-34 year-olds use Facebook – that's 9 million people! Any company or organization who wants to alienate that employee cohort has rocks for brains and should just fall on their sword now.

     

    Sadly, a majority of big employers have already banned Facebook. In a Sophos poll of 600 workers, 43% revealed that their company was blocking access to Facebook, while an additional seven percent reported that usage of the social networking website was restricted and only those with a specific business requirement were allowed to access it. In contrast, 50% of respondents said that their company did not block access to Facebook, with 8% specifying that the reason was fear of employee backlash.

     

    Employees want it, and you want employees. When you ban Facebook, you mostly screw yourself. So instead of banning it, embrace Facebook with caveats, rules (terms of use) and the appropriate security.

     

    Sophos has produced a solid security guide with recommended privacy settings in Facebook, and shows you how to set more secure levels of privacy and reduce the chance of becoming a victim of online identity theft (see Facebook best practices): 

    “Unlike some other social networking sites, Facebook has provided some powerful options to protect you online - but it's up to you to use them! Think carefully about who you allow to become your friend once you have accepted someone as your friend they will be able to access any information about you (including photographs) that you have marked as viewable by your friends. You can remove friends at any time should you change your mind about someone.

     

    • Show "limited friends" a cut-down version of your profile - You can choose to make people 'limited friends' who only have access to a cut-down version of your profile if you wish. This can be useful if you have associates who you do not wish to give full friend status to, or feel uncomfortable sharing personal information with.
    • Disable options, then open them one by one - Think about how you want to use Facebook. If it's only to keep in touch with people and be able to contact them then maybe it's better to turn off the bells and whistles. It makes a lot of sense to disable an option until you have decided you do want and need it, rather than start with everything accessible.”

    The Sophos guide also provides specific advice on different Facebook controls:

     

     

    SPEAKING OF FACEBOOK:

    Come join the discussion on Facebook on theIntranet Global Forum.

     

     

    ADDITIONAL READING:

    Facebook used as an ‘underground’ intranet

    Speaking of Facebook as an underground intranet…

    The ROI of the Facebook intranet

    Serena’s Facebook intranet

    Microsoft wants Facebook... and its intranet power

    The Facebook Revolution

     

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