Social Networking at Work – Bad Idea?

I was reading an article over the weekend that claimed that over two thirds of employeeswant social networking sites like Bebo and Facebook banned in the workplace. Why? Personally I think that sites like Facebook can be used positively for companies, especially larger ones as they can create a sense of community and link people together. I understand that some people may not want their personal photos and comments shared with colleagues but you can always have two pages, one work, one personal.

Banning them in the workplace may be seen as stopping people wasting their working time but I think that employees should be able to check them on their lunch hour, and should be trusted not to waste hours “poking” each other! How many times do you check your Bebo/MySpace/Facebook a day? I know that I have self control (!) and would check just once, be honest…