Gartner Finally Realizes That Social Networking At Work Isn't Evil

from the could-have-found-that-elsewwhere-earlier... dept

It wasn't that long ago that Gartner was spreading FUD about the use of social networking tools at work, saying it didn't think the technology would be beneficial within corporations. It seems that Gartner has a new tune. Just a week or so after we pointed out how silly it was to block social networks at work, Gartner has come out and said the same thing, pointing out that such blocks don't really work, and most people now use such tools for important forms of communication, which would be harmed by IT decisions to cut them off. Of course, some of us have been saying that for years. Good thing companies are paying billions to Gartner for its advice, right?
Hide this

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.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: social networking
Companies: gartner


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Freedom, 19 Oct 2009 @ 6:57pm

    Talk until you a blue in the face...

    Sometimes a message won't be heard because it just isn't the right time for it.

    It is only now that businesses are using Facebook and such that the social networking value is seen to both the business mgt/owners and IT departments.

    Until you have major companies invested in a meaningful way, you weren't going to get any traction on the argument of not blocking what appears to be the new water cooler to management. Now that it is seen as the new Golf Course or pick your analogy, it is A-OK with management but they need a study to justify it :)!

    Freedom

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Cheezeburger, 19 Oct 2009 @ 7:37pm

    Gartner says whatever they are paid to say

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Ziege, 19 Oct 2009 @ 8:40pm

    Gartner?

    Who is this Gartner?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Dinesh, 20 Oct 2009 @ 1:38am

      Re: Gartner?

      Gartner, Inc. is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. We deliver the technology-related insights necessary for our clients to make the right decisions, every day.
      http://www.gartner.com/technology/about.jsp

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2009 @ 4:59am

      Re: Gartner?

      mouthpiece

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2009 @ 6:37am

        Re: Re: Gartner?

        mouthpiece

        You realize he copy/pasted the summary from Gartner's "About" page (which he linked to) to be helpful, whereas you're just an anonymous jackass, Right?

        /sigh

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Doctor Strange, 19 Oct 2009 @ 10:49pm

    Good thing companies are paying billions to Gartner for its advice, right?

    Someone's a little jealous...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Mike Masnick (profile), 20 Oct 2009 @ 12:35am

      Re:

      Someone's a little jealous...

      Heh. Not at all. I'm never jealous of success. But I can point out how dumb it is that people pay them so much money for such bad advice.

      What's wrong with that?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Andrew (profile), 20 Oct 2009 @ 6:39am

    Some companies embrace these sites

    Our company has a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and a few other sites, and actively encourages employees to participate. So not everyone just thinks of them as time wasters.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Free Capitalist (profile), 20 Oct 2009 @ 7:36am

    "Best Practice" != Best Solution

    There are still plenty of private networks that I would not recommend opening up to social networking. High security environments with a broad authorized user base should still avoid non-critical "targeted services" such as Facebook to protect themselves from the gullible majority.

    If it were easier to fire people for under-performing, I would say sure, open up the services wherever there isn't a security policy in place that would dictate otherwise. For mid to large size corporations, they probably need to decide whether or not to open to social networking based on their employees' use patterns and experiences.

    Social networking is good, but its also a form of crack for some people, who create burden for their teammates. Work ethic should always come before being socially connected, and for many in the workforce this is unfortunately not the case.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Overtkill (profile), 20 Oct 2009 @ 9:47am

    The fine line....

    Being a Systems Admin myself, I would argue that there is a fine line between justifying use of sites like FaceBook while at work. Companies will still have to shovel out cast to make sure their employees are not spending many hours a day on social network sites.

    I would argue that this is definitely one of those situations where there is a fine line between wasting time at work, and helping the company by contributing the the common good. Not many people understand that when they pass through the corporate proxy gateway, they are logged to the teeth. These logs in the hands of a good admin can be broken down in seconds to find out what employees are actually doing online.

    I once held the Sysadmin gig along with a management job (multitasking) for a small business before venturing out on my own. I was actually quite lenient in that I allowed people to do what they generally wanted, provided that their work was done in a timely manner. But there were those who simply couldn't help themselves. What cracked me up most, was watching the light above "offender's" cubicle change with a couple of mouse clicks as someone walked in that direction, only to change back after the person walked on by.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    jdub (profile), 20 Oct 2009 @ 12:36pm

    People will always find away around things. People/governments/corporations will always try to block the consumer on not doing something, and the consumer WILL always find away around.

    Anyone who believes they can stop everyone from doing something is sorely misinformed.

    examples:

    1. The U.S. War on Drugs (That worked out well eh)
    2. Newspapers putting up pay walls (Still waiting to see if that will work out, my bets on people flocking to the free alternatives)
    3. Movies/music concerning file sharing (**AA still haven't stopped that one from happening, and doesn't appear to be dropping anytime soon)

    This blocking social networks on company networks is just another dead end. How to get around it? People are just using there smart phones now, to browse, and do whatever they like. So it really hasn't stopped anything.

    Hell I even don't even use ITunes for my ipod, cause I refuse to be locked down to it, and want to be able to transfer my files, back and forth to any computer I choose.

    What is it they say in Hackers: "You may stop me, but you can't stop us all!"

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Planetwebfoot, 3 Dec 2009 @ 11:10am

      Re:

      I agree with you when you say "blocking social networks on company networks is just another dead end". People will get around barriers if the desire is strong enough.

      On another note, it's no surprise businesses are seeing the advantages to using social networking technology. In the end, one of the purposes of social networking is to provide a platform for people with common interests to interact and exchange information.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Dr Timothy Nam, 21 Feb 2010 @ 1:41am

    Social CRM

    Social Networking are utmost important in Social CRM...Linking corporate individual with their respective social networks such as Twitter, Facebook...etc are perfect alignment towards understanding customers in wider scope

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Logon, 26 Mar 2010 @ 9:38am

    -

    I think the idea is that if they pay for you to do it. Do it..

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.