The Big Secret's Out (I Guess): People Use the Internet at Work
A new study produced by Clearswift shows that lots of people use “social media” and “web 2.0″ sites at work. In fact, we’re told that “87% of office workers access web 2.0 sites each week.”
The implication of the study is that businesses should take note of “red flags” such as people spending too much time on non-work related tasks and the potential for “data leaks” (in the e-roof, I guess?).
I’ve got some issues with this study and its analysis as presented by Clearswift. First of all, I’d love to learn how they define social media and web 2.0 sites as compared to the rest of the Internet. In fact, the Internet is social media: it’s an interactive medium. Every time you hit that keyboard or click that mouse on a website, wham-o, you’ve just entered social media-land. That’s so web 2.0, you want to say. And you should. But not out loud, please.
Secondly, didn’t we already know that people spend lots of time goofing off at work in front of a computer? Does MySpace really provide the extra excuse people need to not put a cover sheet on the old TPS reports? In fact, if people want to screw around and not work, there is any number of ways that they can do it. Remember how you always used to see bored secretaries playing Solitaire and Mindsweeper?
In terms of “data leaks,” this comes down to common sense more than anything. Tom from MySpace and the fellas on your Fantasy Football message board aren’t trying to manipulate you out of the Great Secret Project that your company is building. “Social media” websites don’t play greatly into the equation. Either you have a good sense of what and what not to reveal about your personal life and your workplace, in real life or in front of a computer screen, or you don’t.
I’m being slightly tongue-in-cheek here. There are doubtless sensitive situations that come up when an employee engages in business-related discussions within a publicly viewable web environment. This collaboration with colleagues is doubtless largely a boon for the employee’s knowledge base and therefore benefits the organization.
So I would think that instead of laying down the hammer and restricting Internet access in the workplace, a short memo from the brass to the note of think before you type and try to give the Facebook and the Twitter and the AIM a break every now and again, we may be watching, ha ha ha, cough cough cough would be much more appropriate, and really better serves long term interests all around.
Web Worker Daily (which uses the coolest Soviet-looking font ever in its header) provides some good and practical tips for laying off the ADD-vortex of the Internet, including setting aside blocks of time for e-mail, and allowing yourself the right to lay off registering for yet another site “just because all the cool kids are doing it.”
