David Neal

I have recently discovered Facebook, the social networking site that is to office productivity what crack cocaine is to domestic harmony.

In the first few hours of signing up I had great fun, so much fun that the powers-that-be decided to step in and put a stop to it.

Within five minutes of me writing something witty for my status box, my editor, who sits just to the right of me, prised herself away from her own page just long enough to threaten that she would get the site blocked from my computer if I didnít come away from it and actually do some work.

She needn't have worried, because my two days as a member of Facebook taught me a few things: I lost contact with all my school friends for some very good reasons; it is not a good idea for me to share my photo albums with strangers; and all of my current 'real-world' friends are very annoying and way too camera-happy. So, using only willpower and my innate tendency to alienate people, I am boycotting Facebook.

I must admit to feeling a little isolated, but I doubt this will last for long. Indeed, I think I can detect the rumblings of a major Facebook/Web 2.0 backlash. Soon thousands of us will be out on the streets, grasping hands firmly and discussing how work is and what we did over the weekend, as opposed to spending almost every waking hour of every day doing just that, but on the internet.

Sophos, the online security giant, has added a new question for IT managers in its latest Security Threat report. It reads, 'Why haven't you blocked MySpace in your company?'. The security vendor obviously regards IT managers that allow users to access MySpace as being highly irresponsible.

Sophos found that half of respondents felt that employees should be able to access the site, a quarter hadnít blocked it because they feared an employee backlash, and the rest felt that blocking it would be too complicated and time consuming.

Well, I'm all for trying to keep staff happy and avoiding irksome tasks, but not if it means causing a lot of grief for myself further down the line. Allowing access to social networking sites always carries significant risks. For example, Sophos points out that they are gateways for JavaScript code and its older, nastier brother, malware.

However, Draconian measures, such as blanket bans, are rarely good for morale, and an unhappy worker tends to be a less productive one. By far the best way to preserve harmony and productivity is to get staff to agree to an acceptable usage policy that could, for example, allow access to social networking sites during lunch breaks. Then all the IT manager has to do is ensure all staff abide by it.

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