Social networking good for businesses

If you see employees tinkering on Facebook during work hours, don’t punish them – a British think-tank says it can actually benefit your business.

A new report from Demos by Peter Bradwell shows social networks can build relationships between colleagues and contacts, and can increase productivity.

“Bans on Facebook or YouTube are in any case almost impossible to enforce; firms may as well try to put a time limit on the numbers of minutes allowed each day for gossiping,” he tells Reuters.

“The answer is not to close down staff access to social network platforms, nor is it investing blindly in collaborative platforms.

“Allowing workers to have more freedom and flexibility might seem counter-intuitive, but it appears to create business more capable of maintaining stability.”