CorpComms Magazine

Whether you love or loathe it, Facebook has become increasingly difficult to ignore. For an employer, the likelihood is that thousands of staff already use the social networking site to arrange parties, catch up with old friends or post photos of their pets and children.

Problems arise, however, when these employees log on to Facebook on company time. A recent survey from law firm Peninsula calculated that 233 mn working hours are lost every month to staff visiting the site to 'poke' their friends and check their messages.

Mike Huss, director of employment law at Peninsula, believes there is only one solution to the problem. He has called on all firms to block access to social networking sites such as Facebook, believing that the loss of productivity is proving a 'major headache' for firms.

'Why should employers allow their workers to waste two hours a day on Facebook when they are being paid to do a job?' asks Huss. 'The figures we have calculated are minimums, and it's a problem I foresee escalating.'

Huss' strident approach has proved popular with firms all over the country, with City institutions such as Dresdner Kleinwort and Credit Suisse blocking social networking sites. Some companies, however, have found that banning Facebook actually harms their business.

Top law firm Allen & Overy moved to block the site last summer, but reversed the ban after senior lawyers complained they had been using the site to communicate with clients. 'Facebook is used by many people for networking,' acknowledges IT director Dave Burwell, 'for business purposes as well as social ones.'

The Allen & Overy U-turn shows that Facebook cannot be all bad. In fact, some experts believe it can be a positive tool for communicating with both clients and employees.

Vital information

'Facebook is important,' insists David Ferrabee, managing director of change and internal communications at Hill & Knowlton. 'Some companies think people are wasting their time on it - which is probably what people thought 10 years ago about the internet, and probably what my granddad thought about the telephone.'

Serena, a global IT company with offices all over the world, is one company that believes Facebook is a force for good. The firm recently launched weekly 'Facebook Fridays', during which employees are encouraged to spend an hour updating their Facebook profile and building their contacts. The company also uses Facebook as a corporate intranet.

Kyle Arteaga, vice president of communications at Serena, says Facebook has helped the company to build a stronger identity. 'Thirty-five percent of our staff members work from home - which has made it awfully difficult to communicate,' he points out. 'It's hard to get people in different locations to feel like they are part of the same company.'

'Why not have 100 percent?'

The Facebook intranet was started by Serena's chief executive, who was already using the site for his personal communications. 'He started asking employees to be his friend, and when he got 30 percent of them he thought, Why not have 100 percent?' Arteaga says.

He adds that the results of using Facebook have been fantastic for the company. 'It has definitely worked for us,' he enthuses. 'People have started to understand how the technology works, and different teams from different parts of the world have started talking to each other. There are people now who are challenging each other to movie quizzes when there would have been no reason for them to talk before.'

Facebook, claims Arteaga, can be used to fulfil the functions of a corporate intranet and more, allowing colleagues to communicate at a deeper level. 'People want to see what people look like, and know that Nancy ran the marathon last weekend,' he explains. 'Then they know why she didn't respond to their messages.'

A recent software launch has made Facebook a much better solution for employers. Workbook, which was released by US company WorkLight in December, allows employers to set up a secure version of Facebook to view corporate information about their peers and catch up with company news.

Pros and cons

'Employees are using Facebook in today's workplace whether employers like it or not,' says Shahar Kaminitz, founder of WorkLight. 'This creates a tantalizing array of new networking possibilities for companies looking for newer and more efficient avenues of employee communication, but also brings with it a host of new security issues.'

Applications such as Workbook aim to cut out the likelihood of sensitive information finding its way into the public domain via Facebook, a concern many companies have.

A recent survey by Forrester Research estimated that 13 percent of employees were using social networking sites for business, even if their companies had issued no guidance on how to use those sites.

Rob Koplowitz, principal analyst at Forrester, warns: 'The risk inherent in unsanctioned usage is significant - your organisation's intellectual property could be exposed through channels you don't even know about.'

Dirty laundry

This fear, combined with the 'waste of time' factor, is what initially led many organisations to ban Facebook. Companies are unable to control what happens on a social networking site, and do not know who is accessing their information. As well as fears over employees leaking sensitive company information, there is the risk they will tell their colleagues a little too much about themselves.

There are many stories, some undoubtedly apocryphal, including the one about the senior executive who put a drunken picture of himself on Facebook without realising his employees would see it, or the employee who updated his Facebook status to say he was 'pulling a sickie' only to find himself hauled up in front of HR the next day.

'It was the same at the start with email - some guy was always pressing Reply All and telling his boss he didn't like him,' says Ferrabee. 'It is important to keep in mind that the 'friends' on your Facebook list include business contacts as well as actual friends.'

At Serena, the staff get around this problem by using the 'limited profile' function on Facebook. 'You do not have to have the same profile to show the CEO as you do for your wife,' says Arteaga.

Serena has invested in Facebook training, as well as relying on some real experts - the teenage children of employees - to teach the staff about security. 'We did a lot of education upfront,' Arteaga recalls.

An ill wind

But there are dangers to not using Facebook as well. Ferrabee warns that most companies do not realise employees already have a Facebook group, even if the employer has nothing to do with it. 'When a new client comes in, we check whether it has a Facebook group,' he says. 'Most of them do, but half the time they don't know they have it.'

Unless an employer engages with that Facebook group, it will have little control over the information about it that gets posted on the web.

Ferrabee suggests that there are many positive ways to use Facebook, particularly interacting with people who have already left the company. 'Some companies use it to run alumni groups, and it is always good to hire back your old staff,' he says. 'Basically you can use it to keep in contact with everyone, without having to update your phone and email lists. Even a guy sleeping in his car under a bridge will log onto his Facebook account.'

Lee Smith, employee communications specialist at PR consultancy Gatehouse, says Facebook can enhance the way staff communicate. 'Banning Facebook is short-sighted,' he suggests. 'People should be encouraged to exploit it to further their education and career.'

Staying in touch

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has also got in on the act, publishing a set of guidelines on how employers and employees can use Facebook responsibly.

'Handled properly, personal access to the internet during breaks could be a valued benefit for staff and also help employees develop useful IT skills, the TUC advises. 'Many employers have a web use policy, making it clear to staff what is and is not acceptable. Publicising this policy is the best way to ensure staff members do not use the internet to waste time during business hours.'

The TUC's enthusiasm might have something to do with the fact that many trade unions, including Unite and the GMB, are already using Facebook as a means of communicating with their members.

Smith says employers should be aware that employees have power on Facebook, because it allows them to band together. 'Some people think Facebook could be like a union,' he notes.

Things to come

Of course, Facebook is not the only social networking site companies have to deal with, and some experts believe it will soon go out of fashion. 'Facebook meets our needs at the moment, but we also encourage our employees to use Bebo, Twitter and MySpace,' says Arteaga. 'Who knows what else will come along?'

Forrester Research classes Facebook as part of Web 2.0, the new era of the internet that relies on user-generated content. This puts it in the same category as virtual worlds such as Second Life, which are also being used for business communication.

Koplowitz says that, whatever social media site ends up being popular, the key to using it well lies in giving proper training and control. 'Embrace Web 2.0, but on your terms,' he advises. 'It's critical to address Web 2.0 now, before usage explodes within your organisation. If Web 2.0 technology is already being used in your company and providing value, you must establish a strategy that allows people to use the tools they find helpful but also governs usage.'

In other words, Facebook is a bit like a large dog: if it is trained and treated well, it could be your best friend. Mistreat it, and it could rip your business limb from limb.

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