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Security concerns leading UK businesses to clamp down on social media, study says


Almost a third of UK companies block or discourage employees' social media access at work, according to a new study.

A survey by research company Clearswift revealed that 29% of UK companies block or discourage social media use in the workplace. Employers are cautious about the use of social media because of concerns about data security breaches, it said.

"Successful use of ‘Web 2.0’ is still seen as critical to future success by both groups, and there is ongoing investment in this area," the Work Life Web 2011 study (20-page / 1.37MB PDF) said.

"Technology adoption is, however, being hampered by security concerns, with high-profile data loss incidents generating scepticism about new collaboration technologies. These concerns have caused increased levels of blocking and monitoring of employees’ online activity, reducing levels of trust in employees to use the Internet responsibly," the study said.

"Concerns about security and data loss are preventing technology adoption to some extent in 87% of the companies surveyed," it said.

The study of more than 1500 employees and 900 managers in the UK, US, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Japan also said that 68% of managers admitted to monitoring their employee's internet activity, and 56% block access to particular social networks. More than a quarter of employees said that they would be demotivated if their employer introduced social media guidelines, the study said.

The study results show that there has been "some significant changes in attitude to social media" in the last year, Andrew Wyatt, chief operating officer of Clearswift said.

"Businesses have reacted to the series of high profile data leaks and have become increasingly nervous about its usage in the workplace," Wyatt said.

"Rather than embracing new channels of communication, companies have clamped down and become overtly defensive which is consequently stifling potential avenues of growth. However, the research also provides evidence that businesses do recognise the importance of new technologies which leads me to believe that this is a knee jerk reaction rather than a long term trend,” Wyatt said.  

More than a quarter of businesses, and 31% of UK companies, are planning to invest more in social media this year than last, even though 57% of managers have expressed security concerns and almost half worried about employees losing confidential data or it being lost to external hacking, the study said. Nearly a third of employees believe internet security at work is the sole responsibility of employers, it said.

Businesses would benefit from better internal and client communications, and have happier and more motivated staff, approximately 40% of study respondents said.

Staff are using more devices at work, such as smartphones and tablets, and are also engaging more with social media services, but employees are being distracted by their own personal communications which is causing drawbacks for both them and their company, the study said.

"Social media seems to be creating greater levels of distraction during the working day, leading to longer days, in part to make up for missed work," the study said.

"Both employers and employees are struggling to define the difference between permissible and unproductive uses of new media," it said.

"The increased used of social media by employees demonstrates the need for employers to plan contingencies and put in place a social media use policy, Social media channels used in the correct manner can benefit businesses enormously, but there is the potential for them to be damaging too, with reputational risk being a particular issue", said Claire McCracken a technology law specialist with Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com.

The study also recorded an increasing trend towards a "blur" in workers' personal and work life.

"The boundaries between personal and work life continue to blur, especially for the young. As work days get longer, more and more employees need to juggle work and personal communications," the study said.

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