Companies choose to block social networking sites

A report by Datamonitor, released today, stated that Britain has the highest membership in Europe of social networking sites.

In Europe as a whole, usage is predicted to more than double from 41.7 million to 107.4 million.

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However, as social networking increases in popularity, companies are wising up to the dangers and negative productivity effects linked with these sites.
 
32 per cent of ScanSafe’s customers are now choosing to block social networking sites compared to 18 per cent a year ago.
 
Spencer Parker, director of product development at ScanSafe comments:

“Social networking sites can expose businesses to malware and are a drain on productivity and bandwidth. ScanSafe has previously detected malware on social networking sites including Facebook and MySpace. Given the option, companies are increasingly choosing to block these sites in order to protect their networks and encourage efficiency in the workplace.”
 
Assuming that usage of social networking sites doubles then it is likely that more companies will choose to block or limit the usage of interactive social networking sites whilst at work.