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(Social) Networking while on the clock

Much like telephone, e-mail and text messaging use before them, social networking sites - most notably Facebook and Twitter - have revolutionized the way people communicate and are influencing conduct and activities in the workplace.

While Facebook and Twitter offer marketing opportunities for companies, they also present challenges regarding employee productivity.

Chan Field of Athens Printing Co., thinks utilizing social networking sites is becoming a must for the business set, and his company is in the process of developing both Facebook and Twitter sites to promote their services.

"People are savvier in the way they investigate a company these days," Field said. "In some cases, dealing with a design firm or peer agency, it might be important to them to know that we're plugged into a social network. They put value in it whether they contact us via it or not.

"They say, 'Hey, these guys are progressive, forward-thinking; they get the fact that this is how people communicate now.' It's kind of almost like small businesses are pushed to look for alternative ways to get their names out there. You're foolish not to, I think. But the issue is how you do you do it and how do you do it correctly from a business standpoint."

Limiting the amount of time employees spend on social networking sites while on the clock is the issue, though, and Field said that while there's not been any widespread abuse of Facebook and Twitter at Athens Printing, guidelines have been enacted to govern their nonbusiness use, much like the phone and e-mail.

"It's an issue, just as much an issue as the e-mail and text messaging - it's another form of communication that people can access or accept," he said. "In general, we've kind of expanded our policy regarding personal communications to essentially limit them to a reasonable amount during the day, understanding the fact that some people can access that through their iPhone or Blackberry, but most people are doing it at their work stations."

"We're teaching our employees that these stations are designed for work and production, and not for social time. But I think our staff understands that. It is something we had to kind of address. ... We're fortunate - we have a pretty self-sufficient staff and they put a lot of value in their employment and don't want to alienate their bosses. There are always instances - percentage things - that one or two will abuse and it does require management, per se. We've had a couple of those, but overall we try to educate our staff that these work stations aren't free and are on the clock just like employees and they need to be following productive efforts."

How pervasive and how fast-growing are these social networking sites? In October, Advertising Age reported Facebook now has some 300 million members, and The New York Times said Twitter traffic rose from 1 million visits in August 2008 to 20 million "hits" this past August and that Facebook traffic amount to 92 million visits in August.

It seems clear, however, that many bosses around the country are fed up with their employees spending company time on personal pursuits. According to a survey conducted earlier this year by Robert Half Technology, nearly 55 percent of the chief information officers queried reported that their companies do not permit their workers to visit social networking sites for any reason during the business day.

The survey, which included comments from 1,400 CIOs working for companies with 100 or more employees, also reported that 19 percent of those surveyed said social sites were permitted for business-use only and that 16 percent allowed for some limited personal use.

"Using social networking sites may divert employees' attention away from more pressing priorities, so it's understandable that some companies limit access," said Dave Willmer, executive director of Robert Half Technology in a news release. "For some professions, however, these sites can be leveraged as effective business tools, which may be why about one in five companies allows their use for work-related purposes."

'Storing it in the cloud'

As the director of the University of Georgia's New Media Institute and a professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, Scott Shamp said he's often dismayed to present a lecture to a hall filled with students, few who can seem to tear their attention away from their laptops or cell phones long enough to hear what he has to say.

Shamp has gotten used to the trend, but it's still hard to look around the room and see so many students looking at their cell phones and typing on them.

Still, Shamp opts to look on the bright side of the situation.

"What's the real difference between them doing that and writing in a notebook?" he said. "For me, writing in a notebook is almost a validation of the things I'm saying. I m

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