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The next time your boss gets on your case about using Facebook in the office, email her this article. And then she's not looking, stick out your tongue, thumbs to your ears, fingers in the air. And while you're at it, go ahead and add MiApogeo to your friends list.
LONDON (Reuters) - Good news for workers addicted to Facebook, Bebo
and MySpace -- a British think-tank says bosses should not stop their
staff using social networking sites because they could actually benefit
their firms.
The report by Demos said encouraging employees to use networking
technologies to build relationships and closer links with colleagues
and customers could help businesses rather than damage them.
Author Peter Bradwell said that while companies were using specific
systems to share information, online social networking sites could also
play a role, helping with productivity, innovation and democratic
working.
However, he said there should be practical guidelines to limit non-work usage.
"Bans on Facebook or YouTube are in any case almost impossible to
enforce; firms may as well try to put a time limit on the numbers of
minutes allowed each day for gossiping," he wrote.
"The answer is not to close down staff access to social network
platforms, nor is it investing blindly in collaborative platforms.
"Rather, we argue that we need to understand how, once we accept the
implications of social networks, we can manage the new challenges and
trade-offs."
His research concluded that trying to control the use of sites such
as Facebook, which alone boasts more than 100 million users worldwide,
could even harm organizations.
"Smart" businesses recognized that social networking could not easily be separated from "professional" networking, he argued.
"In today's difficult business environment, the instinctive reaction
can be to batten down the hatches and return to the traditional
'command and control' techniques that enable managers to closely
monitor and measure productivity," he said.
"Allowing workers to have more freedom and flexibility might seem
counterintuitive, but it appears to create business more capable of
maintaining stability."
Robert Ainger, Corporate Director of Orange Business which
co-produced the report, said it would be wrong of businesses to ignore
the importance of networking in the current economic climate.
"The report points out that the value of networking within an
economic downturn is perhaps more important than ever and I believe it
could mean the difference between a business collapsing or capitalizing
on the tricky conditions," he said.
(Reporting by Michael Holden, editing by Paul Casciato)
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