The PR industry is urging companies to think carefully about their workplace usage policies in relation to social networks after the results of new research prompted several leading companies to enforce a ban on the use of Twitter.
An influential survey by leading IT services company Morse revealed that nearly 60 per cent of the UK workforce used social sites such as Twitter and Facebook during working hours.
It also found that the typical employee was indulging around 40 minutes a week of their work time engaged in the social media space, which the company equated to a loss in productivity of an estimated £1.38 billion to business each year.
But leading PR practitioners have warned firms to keep social networking in perspective after a number of high-profile companies reacted to the survey by banning employees from accessing popular microblogging site Twitter.
Many in the industry agree that workplace use of social sites is open to abuse, but are nevertheless reminding firms that social networking is also a valuable communication tool that can benefit a business in many different ways.
Firms should avoid alienating staff with a heavy-handed approach to what most employees regard as little more than another minor office distraction and should concentrate on developing the tools to their advantage with sensible and practical usage policies.
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