Social Networking - seems that everyone knows it today. There was a period, say 2 to 5 years back..when there was hardly anything social or let me say it as social networking. And it is just the opposite case today. Social Networking is the buzzword today. You have twitter, You have facebook, You have blogcatalog, You have ibibo..must say..you have so many social sites today. Now, it is a common thing today to see people lurking on these sites and spending or should I say..wasting ;) their precious times behind these social networking.

Yes, wasting their time. The reason I am saying so because it is happening in reality. Well, these social networking sites are turning out to be a big headache, as per what modern organizations have to say. Can't say the same for all social sites but yes, there is one site which has been named in the list. And I am sure..everyone is aware of it. Facebook - one of my favorite social networking sites. Recently or I should say just 2-3 days back I came across one article which had everything going against these social networking sites especially Facebook. And yes, it happens in India. In a very recent survey conducted by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham), it was found that office staff on average spend an hour a day on sites like Facebook, resulting in a loss of productivity measuring 12.5 per cent. And what is most surprising is that majority of these social networking sites are being used for the purpose of Romancing. Well, I don't see anything wrong with it. But yes, offices and organizations are not the place for it. What do you people think ?

Three more interesting findings -
  • It was observed that nearly half of office employees accessed Facebook during work time.
  • Moreover, four in every 10 workers built their entire Orkut or Facebook profile at office.
  • Also, 83 per cent of the employees think there is no harm surfing at work during office hours.
Just to let you people know, in this survey...a total of 4,000 employees between the ages of 21 and 60 from different cities in India including Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Mumbai (Bombay), Pune, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Kanpur, were questioned.

So, here we go. Well, can't say much but I agree with the third point. I feel that there is absolutely no harm in surfing these social networking sites during office hours. Infact, I had also read somewhere that people who surf these social networking sites or say it as, those who spend their time in surfing their favorite sites mostly during office hours, are more likely to be more active in their daily work. People who are able to spend 20 percent or less of their time surfing the Internet at work are more productive than those who don't. Workers are more productive when they are able to occasionally do non-work stuff online, that was found in a research conducted by the the University of Melbourne this year. To add to it, short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days work, and as a result, increased productivity.

So, two completely different pictures. What you people have to say ?