The tone of recent news stories about the dangers of Facebook has been quite hysterical and many IT directors can be forgiven for feeling under threat from the phenomenon. But is a blanket ban for the site the best approach or merely a knee-jerk reaction, perhaps a more tailored approach with network management tools is appropriate?

Dangers come in threes
In some regards, IT directors are right to be anxious. Facebook usage is horribly addictive and many users admit to spending at least two hours a day on the site during working hours. Not only is this a massive drain on productivity, it also hits company resources hard and opens up some significant security threats to boot. Estimates from some organisations are quite alarming; a figure of £130m per day in lost productivity for UK businesses has been widely referenced and this is probably the key reason why 50% of employers have now banned the site completely.

192.com, the search engine, decided to prohibit the site completely after it was discovered that add-on applications used by ‘Facebookers’ were absorbing 40% of the company’s available internet connection. Hackers have of course cottoned onto the infiltration opportunities that Facebook presents and the coming months will doubtless see an increasing number of security scares. Personal security is also a potential minefield as many users are blithely sharing personal information on Facebook which could fuel identity theft and phishing attacks. News now comes that Facebook has agreed a deal to make users’ names and photos available on Google, Yahoo and Microsoft search engines.

The newest face of online skiving?
However, in principle Facebook usage is just the latest in a string of online activities which can erode office productivity if not managed correctly. Companies have had to grapple with these from the earliest days of simple web-surfing through to YouTube, eBay, MSN and MySpace. Doubtless, before the year is out there will be new contenders; rumours of Google’s entry into the market are just starting to circulate, so watch this space. Facebook is so addictive because it is continually offering new activities and it’s this multi-dimensional element that makes it so sticky. More than updating their own page and status, site users can now spend hours sending virtual gifts, playing Tetrish (sic), opening fortune cookies, adopting an online pet, or throwing food at their friends, as well as tracking down old girl/boy-friends and ‘poking’ them which for many is the real point of this giant singles network.

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