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Ask Slashdot: Companies That Force Employees To Join Social Networks?

Posted by samzenpus on from the have-your-friends-list-on-my-desk-by-close-of-business dept.

First time accepted submitter rubeon writes "Companies can get a lot of mileage out of social networking services from the likes of Google or Facebook. Chat, document collaboration, and video conferencing using services like Google+ Hangouts or Facebook's Skype are seductive additions to an IT arsenal. But a lot of people have privacy concerns about these services, and there's no shortage of horror stories how these sites track and exploit their users' habits. Would you work for a company that forced its employees to join a social network?"

6 of 364 comments (clear)

  1. Why not, it's just another work tool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Create a @ Work account, simple This also means you can easily avoid problems such as this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16338040

    1. Re:Why not, it's just another work tool by shish · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Step 1: Create rules that are easy to work around
      Step 2: Nobody complains, because workarounds are easy
      Step 3: Because everybody accepts the rules, they get turned into laws. You are now a criminal, and anyone who doesn't like you can have you arrested :P

      --
      I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
  2. Why not? by jmitchel!jmitchel.co · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why would I have any problem working for a company that forced me to join a social network? I wouldn't join with the same profile that I used personally. I would keep my business activities with the site strictly segregated from my personal persona (if any). But if the cost of losing your privacy as an employee to a google or a Facebook accrues almost entirely to your employer, not to you.

  3. They Can Make You Join... by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe they can make it a condition of your job to join, but can they really make you use it? Just telling them that you don't post much because you're not that kind of guy or gal would be a hard argument for them to refute.

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  4. Re:Roll Your Own by Barbara,+not+Barbie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There are tons of collaboration packages, and even Google Docs, without the need to join a social network.

    ... for now ...

    Why any company would trust sensitive internal information to Google is beyond me.

    --
    Let's call it what it is, Anti-Social Media.
  5. Re:What?!?! by JustShootMe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While you are technically correct, you are ignoring economic realities and pressures. Sometimes just because you *can* quit doesn't mean that you will be able to find another job. There are places in the country where if you lose your job, you will have to move.

    --
    For linux tips: http://www.linuxtipsblog.com