CorpComms Magazine

All 4,500 staff at Portsmouth City Council are to be banned from using Facebook after it emerged that they spend an average of 413 hours every month using the sites.

The shocking statistic, which amounts to more than 17 days every month, emerged after local newspaper The Portsmouth News made a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

Facebook usage peaked at 572 hours in July, the equivalent of 71 working days, even though Portsmouth's current rules state that staff should only use the site during lunch hours.

But new rules will ban it for all staff unless they can prove that the site is essential to their job.

David Williams, chief executive of Portsmouth City Council, said: 'We intend to restrict Internet access to social networking sites more than at present for non-business use. Any member of staff may, under this revised policy, make a business case to have these sites unlocked.'

Mark Wallace, a spokesman for the Taxpayers' Alliance, noted that it averaged out at six minutes per employee, but added: 'Even if everybody does just spend a small amount of time on the site it is still being paid for by the taxpayer.'

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