Fewer employers blocking use of social media during work

Less than 30% of large organizations plan to block social media in 2014, per a recent social media report from Gartner.

In 2010, per Gartner, almost 50% organizations blocked social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter in the office.

Gartner’s not alone in its findings. As reported by the Times of India, my source for this post:

In 2009, a survey by Robert Half Technology found that nearly half of all companies block websites like Twitter, Facebook and personal emails in workplace. According to the report, the research firm surveyed around 1400 chief information officers and 54% of them said that social networking websites were blocked at their offices. The same survey had also revealed that 19% companies allowed social networking but only for business purposes. Only at 10% companies, employees were free to access and use social networking websites for personal use.

Sounds like law firms, of which 45% blocked the use of social media in 2009, including 85% who blocked Facebook,  55% which blocked YouTube,  26% which blocked Twitter, and 22% which blocked blogs. Per Andrew Walls, research vice president at Gartner:

Even in those organizations that (nowadays) block all access to social media, blocks tend not to be complete. Certain departments and processes, such as marketing, require access to external social media, and employees can circumvent blocks by using personal devices such as smartphones.

Organizations should not ignore social media and social identity. We recommend that organizations ascertain how they currently use internal and external social media in both official and unofficial ways, and look for dissonance between IAM practices and the identity needs, opportunities and risks of social media.

Walls advice is spot on for law firms. Not only do you need social media for business development (think networking to build relationships and enhance one’s reputation), but you also need social media for knowledge management.

Knowledge and professional growth for lawyers no longer comes just from books and subscription products bought by the firm. Knowledge comes from ones’ network and the information, insight, and commentary shared by those in your network.