Sun.com Customer Experience and Stuff: Notes from the Sun.com customer experience team.

Depending on who you represent, social networking at work is either an evil time-sink or an essential part of the home/life balance. At present, in the UK at least, these conflicting views are generating an interesting debate between those who represent employers and those who represent employees. Well, I say interesting debate, but its more of a wet-fish slapping contest at the moment, with each side saying the other is talking 'nonsense'. In reality, its a perennial debate - how much of your life outside work should your employer allow you to have inside work, especially if it utilises corporate resources and prods the acceptable boundaries of corporate policies?

Social networking does both, of course, but not really to any greater extent than just shopping for handbags on Amazon, or using your company-paid cellphone to spend half an hour every day talking to your bookie (not that I do). I know the business conduct and privacy concerns are legitimate for most employers, but they should probably be more concerned about employees brains turning to gravy after an hour on Facebook or bebo. At least they're not down the pub downing pints of Carlsberg with vodka chasers - nobody seems to do that anymore.

The real truth is, as Brendan Barber of the TUC points out, that too many employers just don't understand what on earth their employees are doing with these networks. The enabling technology is simple - its just the Internet, right? - but its the Lord of the Flies-like perception of these social interactions that is sending many corporate employers rushing to the panic button. You can't blame them. What they do know about social networking is that you can set up a group on Facebook called 'My Employer is a dick and should be spanked' and invite the whole of the workforce to join, until its so big that the Daily Mail simply have to print a story about it, or that so many people are checking their friends pages on MySpace at lunchtime that the Internet literally melts somewhere. Its time-wasting, pure and simple. That's the reason Kent County Council banned 32,000 employees from using Facebook.

Thankfully, at Sun, we've had full, open access to the Internet for all employees since year zero, and we're actively encouraged to express opinions and push boundaries. We're huge in the community space, and really, you can't understand it unless you're part of it, so we're not about to restrict usage of social networks or get heavy-handed on policy. From Jonathan downwards, we're as open as it gets, and that's the key - our open culture. Sun trusts and respects its employees and invests in them the responsibility to do the right thing. Sure, we have policies to protect Sun from improper conduct, privacy issues, copyright and trademark infringements, and so on, but I can say, without question, we'll never have one which states "you can't use facebook/linkedin/bebo/myspace/twitter/etc on company time and that's that". That would be 'nonsense'.

Bootnote: Facebook vs. HSBC. HSBC (one of largest banking institutions in the world) graciously concedes to U-turn on student banking charges, following Facebook campaign to boycott the bank. This will be in the Daily Mail tomorrow, naturally.

Tunes: Charlotte Hatherley: I Want You To Know

Technorati: social networking facebook employment