A third of employers have put a blanket ban on social networking sites including Facebook over fears that e-networking saps productivity and risks security.
Recent analysis by web security firm, ScanSafe, said that more than a third of companies among its client base now ban social networking sites – a figure that is up 17 per cent on this time last year.
According to ScanSafe, the most commonly requested social networking sites among its business-user customers are YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn, followed by Bebo, MySpace and Photobucket.
Facebook membership is growing at a phenomenal rate; it says users are up 270 per cent from June last year, with more than 52 million users worldwide, while MySpace leads the market with 114 million users.
According to Eldar Tuvey, CEO of ScanSafe: “Companies are increasingly concerned about keeping usage in check – not just for security reasons, but for productivity and bandwidth considerations as well. Where there are large numbers of users, there is sure to be malware and other risks, as popular sites attract not just legitimate users but attackers as well.”
And the problems are set to get worse if findings from a recent YouGov poll are believed. According to their research, half of all broadband users log onto social networking sites with the average amount of time spent on them totalling almost three hours a week. Women use social networking sites more than men – 56 per cent compared to 46 per cent.
HR Zone recently reported that Facebook users who access the site during office hours are costing UK companies £132 million a day.
