Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Should social networks be banned in the office?

Social networking has generally been discouraged at many offices with many  IT departments blocking access to sites like Facebook , Twitter, MySpace due to privacy concerns. These efforts seem futile considering how much the communication landscape has changed  in the last 2-3 years and all thanks to  social networks such as twitter. Our lives are impacted by social networks in many ways. We get news within seconds  and can stay tuned in with the latest updates.They help us to connect and engage with our friends,family, business associates and audiences -current and potential. The advantages are multiple: you can interact , promote/expand a business, look for a job, network , create awareness about a cause...the list goes on. In fact, if you re not on the web; you're missing out! 
Offices may have had good reasons to ban these networks before but not now.
 3 points  to consider:
1.If  workers interact with one another on social networks while in the office, this could spur ideas for future networking opportunities that aim to facilitate communication and increase productivity .
2.Social Networking sites have opened a whole way for people to express ,interact and release  stress.
3.Rather than blocking sites, shouldn’t the management encourage their employees to interact, express their views on such sites and yet be loyal to their deadline and works?
Social networking sites are banned at Imprimis as well and we want to hear from the Imprimis employees. 
What’s your opinion? Should the ban be lifted? Yes/No?


9 comments:

wordczar said...

In my opinion, Social Networking sides can act as a tool to help professionals stay connected. However, in my experience most people only stay connected with friends to check out what's happening each others lives, which leads to thorough wastage of time and also distracts one from doing his/her daily tasks. Having said that, I think access to such sites should be granted to people who have networking as one of their KRAs to generate or maintain business. So restricted access makes more sense than a blanket access across the board. But that's just me and my opinion. Waiting to see what others think. ;)

Anonymous said...

Social networking websites should not be banned in an organization who operates in the field of communication. There are a lot of story opportunities which are sourced from these websites only. At least I personally feel so. If to rate on a scale of 10 I have been able to gather information about 6 stories from G-Talk. Also recently a new group has been introduced on face book named Media Movements. The group talks about the latest development in the media.Its a super way to gather information.

JN said...

Social sites should not be banned. It changed the way we communicate. It has given the power to connect like we have not thought before. We can reach 100s of people in no time. We are now identified through online presence. Business and prospective clients are increasingly using social online platforms to search and meet people.

All big business or senior management have profiles in Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn. It is turning to be new ground for professionals to network and to grow business prospects. Yes, there might be cases, where an individual might take advantage and surf the sites on management time but most of them will actually look for networking oppurtunities to explore.

Basab said...

Folks, social networking sites have transformed our lives in the past few years. Yet many organisations ban them citing slide in productivity and performance. Works well sometimes but not always! Employees often tend to lose out on vital knowledge and information in the long run. Therefore it’s important that restricted access be allowed as per division and needs. For example, the editorial and business development personnel may require access to such sites because of the nature of their jobs. Ditto for the HR staff who may need to recruit employees based on individual recommendation and build online corporate communities. Clearly the use of social networks extends beyond gossips and needs to be encouraged at the workplace. The potential is enormous. Any blanket ban would mean throwing the baby along with the bath water. Think about It!

Unknown said...

I dont think we should restrict our perspective on social networking sites as only a medium to chit chat with our friends. Looking at the current times, these are now a potential source of information for both media industry as well as various other industries that we might be working in.

Apart from that I feel we are in a mature environment and are aware of our priorities.

Unknown said...

The debate on whether these sites are limited to catching up with friends or an extended medium for networking would be forever on... Also, there can actually be no segregation as to which profile demands such networking and which doesn't in a communication field like ours.

I'd simply reiterate Gunjan's view that all of us are mature employees and know of our priorities --- blocking such platforms can’t be labeled as an approach to maintain discipline in an organization.

Radhika said...

For me work without access to all facilities of internet is incomplete work. We are not harnessing the best of what www can offer.

Unknown said...

In PR business, networking means everything.

Networking with media, clients, interested groups play important role in PR.

Now, though contacts can be developed by fixing appointments and convicing people for common interests.

However, appointments and phone-calls make interactions too formal and they always don't work. That's why networking sites should not be banned in offices.

Social networking sites allows us to interact with people from different backgrounds informally. And bonding developed by informal interactions is always much stronger than formal discussions.

Coming back to the issue of effectiveness or time wastage. Everyone in this industry is a professional and almost everyone is ambitious.

Is it wise to monitor or check functioning of any professional every hour? Thats what people advocating ban on social networking sites give a reason for this restriction.

Everyone is assigned KRAs, and they are accountable for delivering results according to their responsibilities.

By banning networking sites we can enable people to only work hard and not make them work smart.

Organizations should focus on results and not the efforts that different individuals make.

If everyone is aware of reward of the results and the penalty for non-performance, they will manage time accordingly even with non ban on networking sites

Shireen said...

I feel that the ban on social networking sites should be lifted as rightly conveyed that we are mature enough to understand the importance of work! Any work when assigned to us has set timelines of delivering it back...lets clear this cobweb on the brain and understand that these websites are not only to gossip but can actually provide useful information as to what all is happening around us!!