A highly reliable source has let me know that facebook was banned this week at the Truworths group.
I was also told that Old Mutual has (or is about to) add facebook to the disallowed sites.
I’m not surprised to be honest. Facebook is primarily a social tool and it is HIGHLY ADDICTIVE, and i doubt it adds any productivity to a corporate.
The only time my facebook usage is more than social is when I meet a new associate and facebook them. In the past I would have probably forgotten half the new people I meet, but with facebook I can remind myself what work they do, see at a glance a little more about their character, and send a few facebook messages to reinforce the new relationship.
But the corporates are definately not getting value out of facebook usage.
Expect to see MANY other corporates joining the “Facebook Banned” camp.
ps: if you know of any other corporates or company’s banning facebook, please contact the Eric Edelstein anonymous tips hotline with details.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Sjefke // Apr 29, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Other than an addictive time-waster (”whom visited me?”), it is also very handy for networking while job-hunting: ‘how to loose your disgruntled employees in a few mouse-clicks?’
Xing.com will be next
2 ilAn // Apr 30, 2007 at 10:36 am
The thing is… I doubt senior (or even middle) management at a corporate sit down and decide which site to allow and which to ban. They outsource their internet connectivity etc to someone like Didata, Business Connexion, Internet Solutions, etc… These in turn decide which site to “ban.” Often they don’t even make much effort in this process but take it from some other company offering lists of “unsuitable” sites as a service.
When someone in management discovers that a site they want to visit is banned (which happens more often than you think… in fact where I work once microsoft support somehow got onto the banned site list!) they make a call to some administrator and request for the site to be unbanned.
So all that needs to happen is a director, or perhaps only someone in IT middle management, needs to want to see Facebook and suddenly everyone in the entire corporate will have access!
Anyways, here is an interesting link on how to defeat censorware… http://www.boingboing.net/censorroute.html
3 Stefano // May 3, 2007 at 8:59 pm
I am all for the use of these social sites in corporate situations. Employees arent pets that you keep, sure, you dont want them to procrastinate, but, if the company is performing and the employees are working well, I see absolutely no reason to ban anysite, other than certain ‘colourful’ sites.
4 Wayne // Apr 30, 2008 at 12:59 pm
This is typical of the mentality of companies in south africa. If you treat people like children, they will behave like children. Allow open access and punish only those that abuse it.
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