Twitter in the workplace: to take action or not to take action?
Twitter has, like similar social networking sites, raised many security questions – especially when it comes to whether businesses should allow employees access in the workplace. While many businesses have adopted Twitter as part of their marketing arsenal, they would do well not to lose sight of the problems: time-wasting by employees, malware attacks, scams and the leakage of commercial or confidential information.
Various surveys and bloggers have highlighted these issues. Morse PLC found that 57% of office workers use social networking sites for an average of 40 minutes a day, while Natasha Lomas, in Digital Dilemma: does your business need a Twitter policy, provides a number of comical (yet worrying) anecdotes on Twitter usage.
But are these concerns justified? Lomas argues that people talking publicly about work is as old as the hills and that “gossip has not stopped the business world from turning”, while Daniel Schwarz in Twitter in the workplace: Why Employers Need to Be Cautious, Not Afraid, writes: “You don’t see advice that we ought to cut off mail service, or remove phones from employees’ office [...] Rather, we outline a set of expectations as to what is proper business behaviours and what is expected by the employer”.
And this is the all-important point: What should be done? Enforcing strong usage policies is one important measure while educating employees on what they can and cannot do, as well as how to identify the threats is equally important.
A recent survey by Robert Half Technology found that 38% of CIOs are tightening up IT policies in response to social network.
This, it seems, is the way forward. Blocking access is proving to be counter-productive (especially when all your competitors are tweeting their customers). A cautious approach, proper policies and awareness of the dangers is the answer. Whether companies are doing this, however, is still not clear.
About the Author: Christina Goggi
Christina is Web Marketing Content Specialist at GFI Software. She is a keen blogger and has contributed content to several IT sites, besides working as an editor and regular contributor to Talk Tech to Me. Christina also writes for various publications including the Times of Malta and its technology supplement.
Twitter is a huge application with a number of amazing uses that can be applied to business. Palo Alto has written a practical guide to how to safely allow twitter to be used in the workplace while still protecting the security of your business. The white paper http://bit.ly/9G1Z3A is really interesting and will allow you to understand that there is utility to Twitter and that it can be an excellent medium for business.
I think a good all around internet usage policy is critical for all businesses. Employees should be aware that what they say on Twitter or any other social networking site could come back to haunt them. My rule of thumb is to never say anything you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of the New York Times!
“…Lomas argues that people talking publicly about work is as old as the hills and that “gossip has not stopped the business world from turning”…” –> But back in the old days, you only get to tell one to two person at a time. Through twitter and other social networking sites, you potentially let a million people know as soon as you hit the submit button. It’s not exactly the same thing.
Hopefully this topic can be expounded upon in future posts. With Twitter taking the idea of microblogging and WOM marketing to new heights, I doubt this will be a trend that goes away. But the article does point out some valid points. I’ve had more than one board room conversation regarding re-evaluating acceptable and unacceptable office behavior, with Twitter and a good number of other social networking sites being at the top of our laundry list.
I’d appreciate more insight on how other businesses are addressing these kinds of concerns.
@Tiffany L.
I think the important thing is striking a balance between using Twitter for the benefit of the company, or simply using it to fill up time that seems better spent working on a proper project. Sure Twitter has taken microblogging and WOM marketing to new heights, but in a business context, only people with very specific responsibilities to Twitter should be allowed to access it. As for anyone else, they’re simply making excuses.
But the fact of the matter is, Twitter is now more widely used as a mobile app than desktop software. Does the restriction of Twitter usage during office hours also mean restrictions from mobile devices? Will employees then be restricted from using specific applications on their phones, tablets and palm pilots just as they would be restricted from using them on their work stations? Seems like a very gray area indeed.