According to a survey from Robert Half Technology, 54 percent of chief information officers interviewed recently said their firms do not allow employees to visit social networking sites for any reason while at work.   The survey included more than 1,400 CIOs from companies across the United States with 100 or more employees.

CIOs were asked, “Which of the following most closely describes your company’s policy on visiting social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, while at work?” Their responses:

Prohibited completely                                      54 percent
Permitted for business purposes only        19 percent
Permitted for limited personal use               16 percent
Permitted for any type of personal use       10 percent

So the debate continues: are social networking sites a time-wasting diversion from real business priorities, or effective business tools.  Discuss among yourselves and post a comment.

Hat Tip: LaVern Pritchard

So says the Wall Street Journal.    Its reign as the king of communications is over.  In its place, services like Twitter and Facebook are profoundly rewriting the way we communicate. 

“Email was better suited to the way we used to use the Internet—logging off and on, checking our messages in bursts. Now, we are always connected, whether we are sitting at a desk or on a mobile phone. The always-on connection, in turn, has created a host of new ways to communicate that are much faster than email, and more fun.”

I can’t imagine that FB or Twitter will ever replace email for business purposes.  But of course, someone like me probably said that about snail mail 20 years ago.