Impact of Social Networking Versus the Conventional Work Environment

Impact of Social Networking Versus the Conventional Work Environment Four recent incidents have demonstrated how online postings on social network sites can raise serious concerns regarding the workplace and an organization's control over its information. Twitter, among other things, is a social networking web site that enables a subscriber to broadcast short text updates using a phone or computer to their online Twitter page. A US Congressman's constant updates on Twitter sparked a Pentagon security review of a policy on Congressional delegations publicly revealing their travel itineraries. Increasingly, politicians have been using sites like Twitter to connect with their voters. The Congressman in question, while visiting Iraq, was reporting his whereabouts on Twitter, something that may have contravened a Defence Department policy Wikileaks.org, an online, uncensored Wikipedia for untraceable leaked documents, recently published nearly 6,800 unreleased reports from the Congressional Research Service (CRS). Every year the CRS produces thousands of reports on legislative policy on a wide range of governmental issues and which are used as a source for researching the background of legislation. Wikileaks stated that the documents were obtained through a confidential source with access to the Congressional intranet. The site was reported to have shut down temporarily when millions of users attempted to download the reports. The Director of Information Services (Director) of the legislature in Maryland blocked access from legislative computers to Facebook. Many lawmakers and politicians use Facebook to connect to their constituents and protested the restriction. However, the Director told a committee on legislative data systems that the block was instituted so that legislative computers could be scanned for viruses and other harmful software. Once the security assessment was complete, the Facebook ban was removed. Finally, the British Ministry of Defense reminded members of the military of the potential dangers associated with social networking. In particular, the Ministry is worried about its soldiers divulging military secrets online and has re-asserted that soldiers should follow "the rules on prior authorization, conduct and behavior, collective and personal security, use of official IT, data protection, and communicating in public". For an article regarding the Congressman on Twitter, see: http://tinyurl.com/cv3zvl For a Washington Post article on Congressional Reports, visit: http://tinyurl.com/dxtxqo For a Washington Post article on Facebook and the Maryland General Assembly, see: http://tinyurl.com/cd3b4h For a CNET article on the British military, visit: http://tinyurl.com/clenac Summary by: Oren Weichenberg