Designated computer terminals

Allowing employees to access social media sites on computer terminals that are on a separate server from the one that houses the organization’s confidential data will protect an organization from external attacks through social media. But employees may complain they don’t have time to access social media sites because there’s a line of employees waiting to use the terminals. Some employees only need to access a social media site for one or two minutes at a time, often less time than it takes to walk over to a terminal. To avoid the wait and lost time, employees might use mobile devices or attempt to work around the blocks on their personal computers to access social media when and where they want.

Advantages:

1. Less risk to company servers but hackers still have access to users’ personal information through their social networks.
2. Full access to social media websites for all employees.

Disadvantages:

1. Employees will still use mobile devices to access social media to avoid long waits for terminals and management scrutiny.
2. Increased pressure from employees to allow social media on personal computers.
3. Might hinder productivity due to lineups at terminals or time limits on use, especially for employees who need frequent access to these sites for marketing, sales or Social HR purposes.

I recommend this strategy only for those organizations that truly believe their employees would abuse their privileges if they were allowed to use social media on their personal work computers. Social media is quickly becoming an important communication tool and will one day rival the telephone in use. Imagine if an organization took away employees’ phones and set up phone stations they had to share with other employees. The drain on productivity would be astounding.

Allowing all social media websites

For those organizations that trust employees’ ability to deliver on tasks, even if they watch the occasional funny YouTube video or check on a friend’s Facebook status while at work, allowing all social media websites can increase productivity, show employees you have faith in them and introduce a new means of communication into the workplace.

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How Organizations are Dealing with Social Media – Part 3: Computer ...