Facebook and YouTube dominate business networks

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Employees checking their Facebook feed and watching YouTube clips makes up the bulk of business internet traffic, according to a report.

After analysing 19 billion URLs over five months, Netbork Box found six per cent of web traffic from businesses is to Facebook, followed by Google at 4.1 per cent. Next up is Yahoo’s image server, Yahoo’s main site, and Doublelick, which is a Google ad firm.

Simon Heron, internet analyst for Network Box, said the businesses must set limits on how much social time employees have on the net, as well as teach them about malwaare and keep security up to date.

“Social media is as much a part of life as the telephone,” he said in a statement. “Businesses have to be aware that their employees use Facebook at work. They should have systems in place to ensure that they are getting the best use they can from company resources.”

While those sites might be taking up the most of employees’ time, YouTube is the biggest bandwidth hog, taking up 7.8 per cent. Facebook uses the second most bandwidth, at 4.4 per cent, followed by Windows Update, Yahoo’s image server and Google.

“Interestingly, Windows Updates are the third heaviest user of bandwidth after YouTube and Facebook – nearly four per cent of corporate bandwidth is being used just to fix software problems on Windows,” Heron noted.

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