Comments on: The Dangers of Social Networking

By: Emmanuel Carabott

Emmanuel Carabott — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:48:17 +0000

Well said Charles, I agree completely.

By: KPO Services

KPO Services — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:16:23 +0000

This post was well worth the read. Be acutely aware of the hazards of Social Networks. Always remember what is possible online. As with most things in life there are opportunities and there are risks; however eliminate needless risk. There is never a need to share private confidential information online. Use social networks to share and promote ideas. Be a giver but don’t give what you wouldn’t want just anyone seeing in public just by looking over your shoulder or seeing into your home or bedroom.

Charles

By: Emmanuel Carabott

Emmanuel Carabott — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:56:28 +0000

As David said, this is exactly where education comes in. If a company simply puts in a policy to deny social network access it is going to have a strong reaction from its exployees. In some cases it will be quite understandable too. If employees really are putting in a lot of extra hours and spending only a fraction of that on social sites they will understandably be angry if they think access is being restricted so that they don’t waste company time. However if they are taught about the dangers and explained the reasons of the policy they might be more receptive to the idea and respectful of it. Well, some of them will; obviously you will always have those few who will not believe anything told to them but it might avoid some of the strong reactions such as those seen in the article that David shared.

By: David Kelleher

David Kelleher — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:46:02 +0000

What is even more irritating is the fact that employees see these warnings as nothing but an attempt by companies to sell filtering software. The Telegraph in the UK (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/6418567/Twitter-costs-British-economy-1.38bn.html)reported this week that Twitter is costing the UK over STG1.38 bn. The comments posted in reply reflect many computer users’ attitudes towards security and any attempts to improve it. People are only concerned about their presumed ‘right’ to do what they want on the company’s computer and time.

By: Emmanuel Carabott

Emmanuel Carabott — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:53:55 +0000

Hi John, Thanks for you comment and I totally agree with the can of worms comment you posted. It really gets complicated considering freedom of speech, jurisdiction of company on things that happen outside working hours and company liability about things an employee does or says outside of the same working hours.

On the other hand employees will generally not like a company telling them what to do, or how to behave outside working hours, so it really is a complicated matter.

Some employees on the other hand should really be more considerate of what they’re doing. There have been numerous stories about how people generally don’t give a moment’s thought to their use of social networking sites. Stories such as employee bragging about how drunk they got the day before and obviously getting fired for taking sick leave. Even worse, employees accepting friend requests by their boss and then speaking out against him/her! It really amazes me! It really seems that some people never consider the medium they are using, the audience they will have and the repercussions of what they’re going to say. That in itself would make anyone a security risk to any company!

In fact maybe in a twisted way a company could use this as a tool to measure the trust-ability of an employee. However, although I am not an employment lawyer obviously, it’s quite possible that this may not be a legal thing to do. Just think how it might be a useful way to see how considerate an employee really is regarding sharing of information.

By: John Mello

John Mello — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:33:39 +0000

This story about your friend is a sad one and very illustrative of the dangers of joining social networking sites outside the workplace. For employers who allow social networking in the workplace, the dangers are also dire. More and more employment lawyers are advising companies to shut down access to services like Facebook and Twitter and recommending that managers be warned about establishing “friendships” with subordinates off the cube farm. Managers wanting to build team morale by cultivating online friendships with their co-workers are exposing their companies to all kinds of legal problems such as harassment, discrimination or wrongful termination lawsuits, as well as complaints of favoritism if some employees are befriended while other are not. What’s more, if a worker confesses some indiscretion, like being high at work, or makes racist or sexist comments about co-workers on a social networking site, a manager will have to turn from friend to “rat” or risk jeopardizing his or her job for not reporting the behavior. This is a real can of worms.