American companies block social network sites

A recent study by Robert Half Technology, concludes that the majority of the American employers, blocks the access to social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter. This research was conducted among 1400 chief information officers in companies with hundred employees or more.
54 percent of the companies that were examined, blocks these sites completely and 19 percent says these sites can be used, but only for ‘business purposes’. Only ten percent of the companies allows their employees to use these sites for personal use and sixteen percent thinks a limited amount of personal use is OK.
However, one must take into account, that there are differences in “blocking strategies”. For example, one can simply block all social network sites, but forbidding the employees to post messages about their boss or work was also considered as “blocking”
A second remark about this study, is that the use of social network sites during working hours, can lead to the loss of precious working time. So according to Dave Willmer (the CEO of Robert Half Technology), it is understandable that companies take action towards this rising phenomenon. However, it is also important to notice, that these sites can provide interesting business opportunities. This probably explains, why one out of five companies allows access towards these sites for business purposes.

Sources:
http://www.switched.com/2009/10/08/most-u-s-companies-blocking-facebook-and-twitter-finds-survey/
http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=20091007108661&word=sociale+netwerksites