Where have you seen that expression lately?
This is a term to describe an Internet service that focuses on building online communities of people who share common interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring similar ideas and thoughts with other people.
Today there are hundreds of social networking websites on the Internet, but the ones you will probably have seen or heard are Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Bebo.
Some large organisations use these sites to deliver internal training and communications whilst others view this communication as a tool to develop business relationships.
Currently there are different views offered online about whether real business can be developed through social networking sites, if the relationships are superficial, and if it can possibly replace face to face relationship development.
Today most businesses see social networking as a threat to office productivity; employees can spend a lot of time communicating with friends about a myriad of social issues during office time instead of working.
The Age newspaper reported that Facebook alone could be costing Australian business over $5 billion in lost productivity per year. Note this article was published in August 2007!
Outside the workplace the availability of computers with Internet access has made it much easier to communicate with friends and relatives more often.
According to a study by Nielson Online (Sydney, March 2008) the amount of time Australians are spending online has, for the first time ever, surpassed the amount of time spent watching television.
So this has created a problem for employers as they are not only responsible for employee activity on the Internet, now they need to protect themselves from staff using their computers for the wrong purposes.
Once again technology has provided the problem and the answer. There are solutions employers can use to control Internet use within their business and they typically come in two forms: in-house and managed online solutions (over the Internet).
The in-house solution requires you purchase hardware, software and ongoing management from the IT team, which large businesses can normally justify.
But it is different for small businesses that do not have a single IT person on staff. This is where the ‘online managed solution’ works for them.
They typically pay a small fee per user per month i.e. $5 which allows them to manage Internet for their company any way they choose. This means they can control where staff can go, block inappropriate or time wasting sites and view overall activity every month with sophisticated reports. Some services also provide additional threat protection against malware and viruses.
When a business decides to implement either of these solutions they should develop a company policy and make all staff fully aware of it.
One thing is for sure… Internet use in business is here to stay.