The danger of social networking to business

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It gave the media easy headlines when, earlier this month, it was reported that staff from PC World and Currys were contributing to a Facebook group that was, it’s fair to say, being less than complimentary about some of the stores’ customers.

Even the assertion from the DSGi group that controls PC World and Currys that many of the postings were from former members of staff couldn’t put out this particular fire very well. Unsurprisingly, the story very soon grew legs.

Comments such as calling a customer a “retard” or describing them as “hardfisted” (and there are plenty of other examples) were widely reported, leaving DSGi attempting to shut the proverbial stable door long after its equine occupant had left.

Yet while many who viewed it saw the whole thing more as an entertaining, diversionary news story, it inevitably re-opened the debate about the power of social networking, and how it should be controlled within business.

In this particular case, of course, it was worse than that: how can you control - and should you want to control - what employees do in their spare time, or after they’ve left your business? Even when they’re leaving their real name?

Minefield

Just controlling social networking in work time itself has proven something of a minefield.

In recent months, Facebook and Twitter in particular have regularly been high up the agenda, not least for the recurring stories about business and public sector organisations blocking access to the likes of Facebook in working time. Last month, Portsmouth City Council blocked access to Facebook, citing the loss of 71 working days a month among its staff in July alone.

It’s a fair bet that most IT managers across the country at some point have had to siphon off some of their working time to at least discuss the issue. And while some suggest a blanket ban has worked, it still doesn’t stop people logging on out of hours to have their say.

But, ultimately, what can be done? The major problem that businesses face here is control. Put simply, it’s impossible to keep tabs on what people write and do across social networking sites, just as it’s impossible to impose rules on what can be discussed on a walk to the shops. In some ways it’s worse with the internet, where it’s not tricky to find a cloak of anonymity to hide behind, even if many choose not to.

Thus, more and more firms are becoming, with some reason, worried about the threat that social networking is causing their businesses.

One inappropriate comment reaching the wrong person could easily lead to a lost customer, whether they’re looking to buy a new radio or place a multi-million dollar order. That comment could be on a personal blog, a Twitter post or one of the other many guises of web 2.0 technology.

The irony is that more and more businesses are actively searching the same services to find out just what their staff are saying about them, and you can bet that DSGi’s competitors were on Facebook within minutes of that particular story breaking – try and find open staff groups for many DSGi rivals and you’ll struggle.

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