Is Social Networking Blocked in Your Workplace?
Are social networks like Facebook and Twitter blocked in your workplace? Luckily, I work for a company that encourages the use of Twitter (not so much Facebook) during the working day but a friend of mine can’t access these types of websites at all where he works.
I can understand that employers would be worried about their employees wasting time on social networking websites during work hours but people are not actually that willing to risk their jobs just so they can talk to Aunty Gwen for an hour when they should be addressing that pile of important files!
Tweeting can be a great asset to your business if it has a service (or services) to sell or if the business keeps an on-site blog.
Tweeting news and new content from a corporate Twitter account is no doubt useful but getting your employees involved in the social media element of your business via retweets will not only help to spread your message, but will add a sense of personification to what could be a faceless brand and/or company name.
And so what if employees decide to reply to a couple of “@” tweets at the same time? Workers should take regular breaks for the purposes of their sanity. If they are not spending the odd minute here and there on Twitter, than no doubt they will chose to expend this time gossiping around the coffee machine.
Allowing employees to use Twitter throughout the day also indicates that a company is “hip” and “switched on” to the latest trends. If your employees are going to use their personal accounts for business reasons too, then it is advisable that you put some tweeting guidelines in place. Do you really want swear words being tweeted by the people who represent your company? Asking workers to set up a separate account might be a wiser idea.
If people really want to use Twitter and Facebook at work, they will…even if you can’t see them do so! Many mobile phones now come with the applications to use both services – ban mobile phones from the office too and you’re going to have a miserable bunch of staff! You can even update your Facebook status and tweet using the power of email (and you know about the high quantity of those that get sent round the office on a daily basis!)
Should staff be trusted to use social networks sensibly during work hours or are the many employers that block these services right to do so?
Kat Cole runs several social media accounts for an online aquarium store that specializes in aquarium heaters. Kat enjoys playing guitar and singing whenever she gets the chance!
When it comes to business and interacting with people, Twitter is way ahead of Facebook.
I’m lucky that social networking sites are not blocked in my work place. But of course, I don’t show boldly to my employers that I’m using Facebook ( I don’t have Twitter account). But honestly, I check on my Facebook during working hours just to look at the Messages because some of my clients (those who are of the same age as mine) inquire thru Facebook. For me, the relationship is deeper and more open if we exchange communication via Facebook. Although for some major concerns, I encourage them to make use of the company’s official email site.
Hey thank you for creating this web site. A if you can can you please unblock twitter as well if you don’t mind
“Workers should take regular breaks for the purposes of their sanity.”
Exactly. That’s the reason why it would be healthy to allow adequate access to social networking sites in the workplace. With the help of an internet usage policy for the company, I guess your employees are smart enough to know their limits regarding the internet use and will probably follow them for their own good. It’s nice to feel that you put trust in your employees. Thanks for your post.
help me?
I’m blocked,with my isp.