Staff who use social networking sites during work hours should
not be dismissed as time-wasters, according to think-tank
Demos.
According to the think-tank's
Network
Citizens study, such sites provide useful platforms for
discussion and collaboration. Limiting their use could have a
negative impact on the way employees communicate with each other
and customers, it said.
The study's author, Peter Bradwell, said that online social
networking sites such as
Facebook,
Bebo and
MySpace could help 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 number of minutes allowed each day for gossiping," he
wrote.
"The answer is not to close down staff access to social
networking platforms, nor is it to invest 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."
"Smart" businesses recognise that social networking cannot
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 counter-intuitive, but it appears to create businesses more
capable of maintaining stability."
Orange took part in the study.
Robert Ainger, corporate director of Orange Business, said, "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
capitalising on the tricky conditions."
Meanwhile, a
survey from FaceTime Communications describes the apparent
risks from the increasing use of social networking sites from
within the corporate network.