Blocking Social Networks

I just read an article in India's Hindustan Times, a leading newspaper that spoke of Indian companies blocking access to Social Networking sites like mySpace and Orkut from work.   I must say i'm not surprised.

Social Networking sites are being viewed as a waste of productive time by companies.  It is not a surprise in a services centric market where productivity of employees is measured in hours worked, and a few hours spent a day on Orkut or mySpace could add up.  While there is not tangible proof of this vs. browsing for news, etc., I can understand why companies would react this way.

TechTribe believes that professional networking for innovation can be a huge positive for companies, where the employees network with others for advancement in their work lives.  One of the reasons techTribe focuses on the being India’s innovation platform is so employees can leverage a concept they’re used to – to connect with others so they could be more productive.  It makes sense for employees to leverage the collective experience of their trust networks in Tribes, where Tribe members could be colleagues across physical and client boundaries.

In addition, leveraging techTribe for mentorship and innovation helps bring newer employees up to speed faster, which is the real need for software and services companies in India.  India has 500,000 to 800,000 employees being hired each year, and a majority of them come from educational institutions and there is a gap between the needs of corporate life and what the student is trained in.  Companies like Zensar Technologies is leveraging this model to mentor college students before they graduate.

Like email, chat, and web browsing which were concepts for personal use before seeing widespread adoption in corporations, social networking too has a place in software and services companies – may not be just in the casual sense it is being used by most people today.  More will be revealed as companies like techTribe deliver on applications for social networking beyond the pure social usage.

I realize this may be a sensitive topic to many Indian professionals and students alike, and i'd love to hear people's thoughts.

Comments

[Sunny]

I think social networking sites are a great fun but they can have a lot more potential then just being a communicator.

http://www.ninthcafe.com is serving this purpose great. Whats ur call?