Here is an interesting article from Law 360 about law firms struggling to control their employees’ use of Facebook and other social networking sites.
One commentator quoted in the article suggests that if LinkedIn is akin to a Chamber of Commerce dinner, Facebook is the “digital equivalent of a country club”. Really? I think that might be stretching the analogy a bit thin.
The article also discusses some of the generational tensions in law firms and other organizations, and makes the sensible argument that blocking such sites altogether may send the wrong message and have unintended consequences: that the firm does not trust its employees, thereby damaging morale and productivity more than the use of such sites.
My unsurprising view: social networking sites, like older technologies (e.g. the telephone and e-mail) are valuable, but like anything else they must be used responsibly.
18/09/2009 at 11:32 am Permalink
TJ, law firms will do better if their employees are media and information savvy, and in my own opinion, the more difficult problem is in NOT having employees embrace and engage social media in appropriate ways. This also I suppose is similar to adoption of prior technologies and mediums (are people checking the fax machine, are they answering the phone or checking their mail). There is a big learning curve, no doubt, but I think the office productivity magic we are all looking for in software may be somewhere in the interconnections that are happening via Twitter and other asymmetrical networks like that.
18/09/2009 at 12:14 pm Permalink
T.J., I think personalities like my own have trouble setting boundaries when it comes to social networking sites. I know that I’m glad I can’t access them when I’m working in my cube at the state. I also can’t access blogs.
I think it’s okay not to trust employees. I don’t trust myself on the issue.