When one of our lead researchers, Chris Boyd, started looking into MySpace hacks and scams over a year ago, some of us at FaceTime questioned whether that was the best place for him to spend his time. Was it relevant to the business IT market that we serve?
Absolutely. The ability to control how employees use social networking on work computers is one of the key topics of conversation we have with new customers. We've heard from customers that they can't block MySpace and Facebook because their HR departments use the sites to do background checks on potential employees. Many organizations are also setting up company-oriented communities on Facebook. We've spoken with companies who have lost new employee candidates because of their policies against use of Web 2.0 including social networking and instant messaging - these companies are perceived as legacy and uninteresting places to work.
MySpace and other social networking sites have entered the enterprise, and business leaders together with IT have to figure out how to turn it into an advantage for the company. It's a much larger issue than simply making a binary decision to block or allow it. Do you block it all, or do you allow some users or some aspects of it? What are the cultural and employee morale issues if you shut down access?
I have a good friend who works at a satellite office for a Fortune 100 company. His Internet is locked down beyond belief. Yet, the posters on the wall from the corporate office highlight value statements about "innovation" and other rhetoric that seems to me at odds with their Internet policy. I'm told that the morale there is a mess. Is there a relationship?
FaceTime is not in the business of establishing the Internet access policy for our customers. We are in the business of enabling them to enforce their desired policy for Web access including control of MySpace and other social networking sites. But, my contention is that it's not soley a matter of whether or not MySpace, Facebook etc. have a business purpose. The real point is that employees feel they have a right to use whatever applications or online sites on their work computers, and IT has to maintain the integrity of the network despite this trend. Bringing these two perspectives together for the benefit of the business is where the challenge lies.
