“Social NetWORKing???” Olivia Chavoen

Today I reviewed an article on CNN.com about the ever-growing phenomenon of social networking and the connection that it has with the work environment. FaceBook is a very popular website that enables people to stay in touch with relatives and friends. It can be a great outlet for anyone who has distant loved ones. I personally use my FaceBook account quite often. However, this article talked about the fact that some people feel uncomfortable about having “friends” from work on their FaceBook account. To me, if you don’t have anything to hide, then it’s really not a big deal if a co-worker wants to be your FaceBook “friend”. Realistically, everyone has a personal life and things like pictures with alcohol or silly comments from friends are understandable. It is obviously a personal preference about who you want to be your “friend”. Other issues the article touched on was the use of FaceBook & other social networks in the business office and how personal business & work business is very much so overlapped these days due to the technology that we are priveledged with. Some of the devices that Americans use today are BlackBerry phones, laptops, instant messages, email accounts… and the list goes on. The writer also brought up the fact that by using all these methods of communication, the need for face-to-face meetings and discussions are somewhat going out of style. I think that the “new way” that people communicate is much more convenient, which can be great; however, there are definitley cicrumstances that call for an in-person meeting. As far as using work time for personal things, I feel that workers should respect their work environment and use discipline when it comes to things that have to do with their personal lives. An occasional email, phone call, or (fill in the blank) message is completely understandable. But when it becomes a priority over the business that someone is paid to do, then I really don’t think that is right. FaceBook has much more to do with one’s personal affairs than work affairs, so using it in the office is most of the time just not necessary. The truth is that most people are going to do what they want, but the people that are empolyed should appreciate the fact that they have a job because there are so many people that do not; therefore respect should be shown.

This entry was posted on 8. June 2009 at 22:59 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.