The Facebook privacy and productivity puzzle

Nothing worse for a group blogger than to find his editor blogged on the same subject the previous day. Yep, it's pesky Facebook again. For me, for the last time. I hope.

The BBC now has 9,333 Facebook users. That's people who actually possess a valid bbc email address. I'm sure that's over a third of the company. They were turned on to social computing a few years ago, as reported in IWR, and this seems to be a high validation of Facebook by a bunch of knowledgeable social networkers.

Yet, other companies are blocking Facebook completely. Sophos gave some examples in a recent report but, because they were all banks, I was concerned that it might have come from a biased source. However, the same company has conducted surveys to reveal corporate attitudes to Facebook.

It discovered that 43 percent of the 600 respondents said that their companies were blocking Facebook, while a further seven percent were allowing employees with a specific business requirement to use it at work. Of the remainder, eight percent (in response to a leading question) said that they feared that "workers would complain" if access were switched off.

In a later survey, Sophos learned that a third of respondents believed that colleagues and employees "were sharing too much information on Facebook". Again, a bit of a leading question but one that serves Sophos' interests well. But, it also offers behavioural guidlines on how to best protect individuals and companies from such threats.

Here are the (paraphrased) topline items:

• Use Facebook options to protect your identity


• Think carefully about who you accept as a friend


• Use the cut-down profile for 'friends' who aren't really


• Disable all the options and re-enable each when you realise you need it

If you don't believe the risks, do take a look at Sophos' Freddi the Frog story. Eighty two people befriended and handed over personal details to an imaginary frog.

If you want to understand more, there's a very promising event brewing in October. Called The Facebook Debate, it is being run by the British Interactive Media Association. Entry costs £25 (£15 for BIMA members) and, although there's a panel, most of the action is expected to be in the audience.