Perspective: Can Social Networking Co-Exist With The Workplace?

Reprinted with permission from CNet.com.

With Facebook and MySpace.com participation growing by leaps and bounds, social-networking sites are making their way into the workplace too.

Is that a good thing? Not necessarily if you ask the employers who regularly block employee access to such sites.

Indeed, a recent analysis of data submitted by thousands of Barracuda Networks' Web Filter customers finds that about half the businesses using these filters are setting up blocks to MySpace, Facebook, and other such sites. Barracuda also reported that 21 percent of the businesses it surveyed actively monitor their employees' Internet activities.