Want To Get Some Press? Just Blame Facebook For Destroying The Economy

from the so-easy-and-guaranteed-to-work! dept

The whole "blame Facebook for killing the economy" line seems guaranteed to get press these days as we've already had two totally different stories of "studies" coming out from biased parties, supposedly "blaming" Facebook for killing productivity. The stories all follow a pretty similar arc to all of the "personal surfing is killing productivity" reports that come out every few months from some company trying to sell internet filters. However, by adding the Facebook element, you've got a definite press hook that most can't resist. Con von Hoffman writes in to let us know about the third example in the series, as some employment lawyer in the UK is claiming bogus "productivity" losses from Facebook. It's the same old story, counting every minute spent on Facebook as "lost productivity" despite studies showing that taking personal surfing breaks tend to be good for employees, and they more than make it up in the work that they do. No matter, though, the story hook is too good for the press to ignore. As Con notes, none of the press reports on the topic bothered to check with anyone than the guy who's trying to get publicity for his employment law practice, and none seemed to question his methodology.

Filed Under: blame, filters, lawyers
Companies: facebook

Let's All Blame Facebook!

from the seriously? dept

Well, you can tell that Facebook is the hot media darling company of the moment these days based on how many other companies are using it as a press hook for advertising themselves. Earlier this week we wrote about a bogus study claiming that Facebook was killing productivity. That report was based on a study done by a company that just happened to sell filters. It seems that others have quickly caught on. Constantine von Hoffman angrily points us to yet another security company that has put out a questionable poll claiming that half of all employers now completely restrict access to Facebook. This is making headlines all over the place this morning, but as von Hoffman notes, no one seems to be verifying that it's actually true. It's only sourced from the security firm, and some in the press are simply taking the firm's word on which companies block Facebook without actually checking with them to find out if it's true. It's definitely likely that Facebook is being blocked by plenty of firms, especially as it's received a lot of press lately (including this kind of bogus press), but you would think that reporters would at least look for more than a single biased source for confirmation that "half of all employers" are banning Facebook. Also, you would think that reporters would go out and also get quotes from companies who don't ban Facebook (and perhaps from those who have found it to be a useful business networking tool).

Filed Under: blame
Companies: facebook, sophos