Huffington Post - Cyberslacking can be a real drag on companies. The solution for many firms seems to be to simply block the websites on which they believe their employees will waste the most time. Studies have shown social media to be a major time sink, as well online games and personal email. Take a look at the slideshow below to see if your favorite sites are among the most blocked by companies. Which sites do you see that you think shouldn't have made this list?
10. Ebay, 9. Meebo, 8. Ad.Yieldmanager, 7. Orkut, 6. Hotmail.com 5. Twitter, 4. ad.doubleclick.net, 3. Youtube, 2. Myspace, 1. Facebook
Not that I think this study is completely wrong, for the most part its about what I expected to see, couple of spammy pop-up servers, and your usual social network sites (though I wonder how long Myspace will need to be on this list, I assumed only perverts and convicted felons hung out there these days, just figured a company wouldn't hire you if you were the kind of person that liked Myspace).
A couple of exceptions though, what the hell are Meebo and Orkut? And what are they protecting us from exactly? Orkut I've figured out is a google social network that is apparently only popular in Brazil? Is that right? Good thing they blocked that, I've got a ton of people in Sao Paulo I've been trying to catch up with...
Meebo is even more puzzling. I guess it's a type of instant messenger, though after 2 minutes of google searching I'm still not sure (that's my limit, if I can't figure something out through google in 2 minutes then its probably not worth knowing). I'm not quite sure what office admins are worried about here as I thought only 13-17 year olds used instant messenging programs...the rest of us gainfully employed people have smart phones.
How did a porn site or two not make this list? Do companies block these or is it some sort societal assumption that workers won't get their freak on during office hours?
By the way, the Number One time waster in my office, by far, ESPN. Know why this isn't blocked? Because all the male bosses wouldn't be able to get through their day with out a sports article or too.
