Re: Allowing access to social networking... securely?

[krymson () gmail com]

Sweet, two good posts at once! :)

@Michael S.
Excellent points! I really dislike being treated like I'm in kindergarten at work. Now, I know some employees really 
abuse such privs, but it is insulting when I have to suffer along.

Likewise, should an employer quash communication, even if it is done online? If that is what our culture is accepting 
as a social medium (we are!), then shouldn't the company think about accepting it in part?



@chmod777
I'm seeing an increasing number of requests from clients to integrate various social network sites into their 
projects/programs that my company may manage.

- YouTube for hosting videos, either instructional, informative, or otherwise not private, maybe to share amongst their 
sales staff, or support staffs, or disparate offices. Why build/host this yourself?

- Facebook for similar things like sharing pics of an event. Even the White House has thrown pics up here. Why 
build/host this yourself?

- Twitter for interfacing with clients in small groups, conference updates and news, alerts, etc. I just recently read 
about a traveling food truck (ala the ice cream truck) that sends out its location updates over Twitter (arguably 
marketing, but that's pretty slick!).

I'm not saying all of the various "business" reasons I've seen in just the last couple months are sound, but the talk 
is there whether you hear it or not.

But really, one of the biggest reasons is just that SN is integrating in culture as much as TV or telephone in decades 
past.


<- snip ->

Is it worth the risk to alienate the employees?

People are still people, and deserve to be treated like adults, not like 
children.

The example you gave, "hate the boss"... Well, for one thing, if your 
boss is going to treat you like a child, that is a major strike against 
him right there.

So someone is blowing off steam online instead of in the work place. 
Would you prefer they have no outlet, and decide to take some sort of 
dire action out of frustration?

Is it worth the risk to NOT allow a 'twit' or a 'tweet'?

As far as "non-marketing" uses, social networking is a way for people to 
interact, and perhaps even solve problems.

* Seeking support or sympathy to resolve interpersonal conflict
* Asking about best practices, and how to apply them to their job
* Looking for technical information
* Planning an office party or some other moral boosting event

You would be better off keeping simple and flexible guidelines about 
what is not allowed ( and why ).

chmod1777 (at) invalid-host (dot) name [email concealed] wrote:
> I gotta ask...
>
> What business purpose do Social Networking sites have, for non-marketing type employees? 
>
> It's not worth the risk to allow a 'twit' to 'tweet' about how they hate their boss, wish they were on vacation, etc 
> etc. 

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