Social Media Policies Within Organizations

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Recommended: Positive and negative implications of social media

With more than one billion users, Facebook has changed the way that we communicate with one another. Individuals regularly log on to Facebook from their phones, in their homes, and while they are at work. Companies argue that employees spending time on their personal Facebook accounts at work has led to a decrease in productivity, which corresponds to a decrease in profitability. This decrease has caused some companies to enact measures that keep employees focused on their work assignments and not their Newsfeeds. Instead of taking draconian actions to block Facebook and other social media sites at all times, companies should allow employees to spend limited time on social media because it increases employee morale, increases work efficiency, and creates an environment that encourages innovation.

Many companies do not allow their employees to check their social media or conduct workplace internet leisure browsing. The employers’ justification for this ban is that employees who are casually surfing the internet or updating their social media are not focused on the task given to them, which harms productivity. According to one study, organizations that give their employees access to Facebook and other social media outlets risk losing 1.5% of total productivity across the company (Nucleus Research, 2009). This loss of productivity comes from employees who spend excessive time on social media sites while at work. Employees who spend time focusing on their own affairs and not the companies are especially detrimental to small business owners, since the businesses do not have the corporate structures to compensate for underperforming employees.

Excessive time spent on non-work related websites is why over 60 percent of companies sur...

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...ield, D., & Davis, R. (2002). Lost in Cyberspace: The Web @ Work. CyberPsychology and Behavior , 347-353.

Kirkpatrick, D. (2010). The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Nucleus Research. (2009). Facebook: Measuring the cost to business of social notworking. Boston: Nucleus Research Inc.

Reinecke, L. (2009). Games at work: The recreational use of games during work. Cyber Psychology & Behavior , 461-465.

Skeels, M., & Grudin, J. (2009). When Social Networks Cross Boundaries: A Case Study of Workplace Use of Facebook and LinkedIn. Redmond: Microsoft.

Vitak, J., Crouse, J., & LaRose, R. (2011). Personal internet use at work: Understanding cyberslacking. Computer in Human Behavior , 1751-1759.

Wankel, C. (2009). Management education using social media. Organization Management Journal , 251-262.

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