Fun With Statistics: How Many Companies Are Blocking Facebook?
from the depends-on-who-asks dept
Consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas has come out with a study this week claiming that nearly one in four companies blocks employee access to social networks like Facebook and MySpace. It's a good story, which is why you see various news organizations picking up the story and running with it. Of course, if this sounds kind of familiar, that's because less than a year ago, some other company (this time it was a security company) came out with a report claiming that half of all businesses were blocking Facebook. Now, if you assume that both reports are true, then that would suggest that fewer firms are blocking Facebook than were last summer. Of course, chances are neither report is all that accurate. And, to be fair, the "headline" from the press on the second story was inaccurate: the actual study suggested that nearly half of all employees were banned from accessing Facebook. In theory, that could be true if a few large companies banned their employees from using the site. Either way, there are companies who probably ban Facebook at work -- just like in the early days of the telephone there were those that banned telephones at work, and, more recently there were companies that banned email or the internet at work. Eventually, companies recognize that fearing communication tools tends to backfire. Embracing them tends to be a lot more productive.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: blocking, employers, social networks, statistics
Reader Comments
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We block it
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I agree with the studies
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Re: I agree with the studies
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UL blocks it, but not because it's facebook
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I imagine it's probably true
But while there's always going to people abusing their access rights at work, social media/networking sites have very big communication benefits if used appropriately. Additionally, by blocking sites, that just opens up that organization to even more security problems. If someone wants access to Facebook, or YouTube, they're going to find a way to get it. That could mean going through a proxy, tricking the filters, etc. So, in a sense, you'll have people working around filters to get access to sites for legitimate reasons. But if those organizations would allow access, but through the regular security controls for other sites, then they could allow the employees to access the sites that they need to, but while doing it through a more secured channel rather than having people circumvent the system.
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Mine does... sort of
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The bank where I used to work...
There was another place I worked a few years ago that had much more reasonable access restrictions. You couldn't get to known porn sites any time, but you could access streaming media, ebay, social networking sites, and the like, but not from 8am-noon or 1pm-5pm.
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bandwidth
Also, I would say most companies don't actually have a need to access these sites anyway, other than specific CSR's who deal in new media communications. Since most of our clientele is OLD, it' snot much of an issue really.
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Catch 22 situation
It would be fair to note that there are employees who are great at time management, and are capable of allocating the time they spend here, there and even on FB - however there are also those that just get attached to these social networking sites for hours at end. Obvious inefficieny, i'd point out.
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Not that its a big deal for me, but I fail to see the rationale. It's a semi automatic system and sites are "reviewed" by committee. Some sites (such as any video game site) are blocked as "time wasters", but other "not necessary for work" sites (such as NFL.com, fantasy sport sites) are allowed.
Unfortunately, our network guys are quite savy and proxies and anonymizers are also blocked :) So there's very little that can be done to get around it.
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Although, as some others have pointed out, when we have tried to do online training or seminars during lunch we find bandwidth getting caned by the less intelligent portion of our company watching a chav kick a wall.
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As for needing them at work, my mother, a worker at DHR, uses facebook to help collect evidence of sexual abuse cases. I even hear some companies look through those pages to check out who they are hiring. Lets face it if you are stupid enough to post illegal/questionable actions on the web for everyone to see with your name on there you shouldn't be hired by a company.
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Heh
I am studying as a computer science major at a university, and I think I am going to work in web development. I have a Facebook account; I will not work at a place that has a huge filter on my Internet access (except for pornography). I am responsible enough to restrict my usage while at work, but if any employer dares accuse me of wasting time on the clock, I'll just send him/her a bill for all the time I used OFF the clock.
In short, you have BIGGER problems if you find yourself blocking Facebook hoping to increase productivity.
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Facebook encouraged...
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Do business networking not social networking
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Suffering From SNAD!!
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If they would ban access to a lot of sites, might as well limit access to the Intranet only. In any case, if there are companies who do ban social networking sites, etc. during certain hours and still allow their employees to access them at certain times, I suppose that's one compromise between the workplace and the staff in question.
Does that sound like employees have a big sense of entitlement? Maybe. But a fun and happy workplace keeps people in the company, especially for free spirited types who don't want bosses breathing down their necks during crunch times.
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Hmm...
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It happened again with eBay, we blocked that too.
After a year those are the only two.
We do have a problem with streaming media on our Terminal Servers slowing everything down... but a bit of user education has them self-policing themselves (a quick demo of how much one streaming video can slow things down does wonders).
We do have a problem with Streaming Media on our Terminal Servers slowing everything down... but a bit of user educataion has them self policing themselves (a quick demo of how much one streaming video can slow things down does wonders).
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blocked?
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This article is Bullshit.
Play cool online at home, this crap has no place in a corporate office.
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20th Century thinking..
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To Block or Not...
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What is wrong with you people?
what makes you think you are entitled to be on a social networking site during company's time unless it's part of your job description?
Productivity DOES decline when someone is on the social networking site during work hours. If you need to so bad see your friends status .. which is so dumb.. then go on your phone on your break time! Unless you are hired to be that person who takes care of the website, or certain pages on the internet regarding the company.. then you are not entitled to be wasting company's money and time surfing your friend's page.
Stupid stupid people these days..
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Scrü Facebook
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