Facebook has claimed 24 million fans worldwide since it started in 2004 and overtaken MySpace and LinkedIn as the highest-traffic UK social networking site. In fact, London has overtaken Toronto as the city with the most Facebook users in the world.
Dozens of people admit to being addicted to the site, where they message, "poke" and check up on friends, colleagues, and often exes, compulsively. British users each spend a total of two hours 32 minutes every month on Facebook, compared to two hours 15 minutes on Bebo and one hour 25 minutes on MySpace.
Facebook is a great tool for co-workers wanting to discuss things - as long as employees are responsible. Now firms have to decide on their Facebook policy. Should they face off or face up?
Face off
Workers who spend time on sites like Facebook could be costing firms over £130m a day.
That is one reason why Facebook is now blocked for 50 per cent of workers. IT security and control firm Sophos conducted research that revealed bosses worried about its impact on productivity and security are restricting the site. The survey warned that 41 per cent of Facebook users divulge personal information that is easily accessible.
The Metropolitan Police, British Gas and Lloyds TSB are using internet filters that prevent employees from viewing sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and Hotmail while on the clock. More than two-thirds of employers in London, including banks and law firms like Credit Suisse, LloydsTSB and Dresdner Kleinwort, are banning the use. As one spokesperson at Bovis Lend Lease commented, "We don't really see Facebook as a networking tool that's appropriate to professional business.” Several companies have also warned employees that accessing the site during office hours is a sackable offence.
Face up
Construction firm Skanska, on the other hand, believes Facebook can actually provide a useful networking tool and forum for ideas. "Communication is vital to Skanska, and Facebook is one example of the latest modern methods of communication. In principle, we do not have any objections to channels like Facebook. We have a policy at Skanska UK that covers the use of electronic communications and we respect our employees and trust they adhere to this policy.”
Housing service provider Inspace also lets its employees use Facebook at work, "We have a contented workforce and part of that is encouraging employees to get to know each other. There may be some banter involved, but that's fine as long it's positive, healthy stuff among colleagues and staff." As a halfway house, Tesco allows access only if employees can make a case for using it for their work.
Allen & Overy, a City law firm, has had to make an embarrassing U-turn on its Facebook ban after a host of staff complaints; they claimed they reinstated access because the site had a potential for “business networking”.
Certainly, the TUC believes that all-out bans are not the answer and that firms should draw up guidelines instead. They said employers were entitled to stop people using the sites during the working day but not during lunch breaks. Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, remarked, “Simply cracking down on the use of new web tools like Facebook is not a sensible solution to a problem that is only going to get bigger. It’s unreasonable for employers to try to stop their staff from having a life outside work, just because they can’t get their heads around the technology.”
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, summarises, "Companies are split on the question of Facebook. Some believe it to be a procrastinator's paradise that can lead to identity theft if users are careless. Others either view it as a valuable networking tool for workers or are too nervous of employees’ backlash if the site is suddenly blocked.”
Facebooking may improve your social life, but can it seriously damage your career? Your employer may not allow you access, but this does not mean they are not using it to check up on you. One in five employers admits using exactly this; one employee at a top London ad agency deleted his football team tour photos in case it damaged his chances of winning a potential piece of new business.
It would seem there are no "right" or "wrong" answers: just what is best for each company and its employees.
