Social Networking in Business and Human Resources

Every Single day it is indeed a full-time job for the network administrator to keep up with the changing technologies. These new technologies come with new challenges, threats, and vulnerabilities which a smart network administrator must solve to keep the system secure. The network administrator must keep up with new hacking techniques, latest countermeasures, and in-depth knowledge of company’s data to address the suspicious activities and minimize their effects. But then comes the question of Ethics. Should the network administrator access employees’ private emails or websites logs to ensure company’s rules aren’t violated? Is it ok to browse employees’ documents or graphics files stored on the computers or on file servers? So, the network administrator has both charms and pitfalls as he has a huge responsibility to secure the company by carrying out his duties in an ethical way. This paper explains some ethical and social challenges a future network administrator may encounter in a company. The paper also introduces some basic ways the new network administrator can use to maintain a healthy, trustful, and ethical relationship between his work and the society.

Social networking sites (referred to more broadly as social media) are a collection of websites and applications that enable users to swap ideas, post updates and comments, and participate in activities and events while sharing their interests with other users. From general chit-chat to propagating breaking news, scheduling a date to following election results, gentle humor to serious research, social networking sites are used for a variety of reasons by various user communities. Nowadays, nearly every person who has access to a computer and Internet indulges in some kind of social networking on a daily basis. The introduction of social media has changed the entire dynamics of our lifestyles: the ways we live, work, and maintain our friendships. Despite its numerous advantages, social media does yield some negative effects. However, the benefits of social media greatly outweigh its negative effects.

When that technology is used to view, collect or disseminate inappropriate content, again employers have cause for concern. Use of workplace computers to access and distribute pornography, for example, frequently results in discipline and workplace harassment complaints. In some cases it can even result in serious criminal investigations.

System Administration, Networking, and Security Institute or SANS.org (2001) “View Employee Internet Use Report (PDF)” retrieved from http://www.sans.org/security-resources/policies/internet.php

This section of the employee handbook is provided as a guideline for employees to understand the company policy and procedures regarding privacy in the workplace. While this section cannot address every possible scenario that may occur, the general policy will serve as a basis of understanding the key workplace issues and employee privacy. This section addresses privacy issues related to personal background information, off-work activities, and the corporate policy on the use of electronic monitoring. These privacy policies are designed to both provide a clear guideline for employees on the difference between job related and personal privacy. The policies are designed to create a standard set of

The most common form of an invasion, to employee privacy rights is email. With the massive use of computers, email has become the biggest communication tool of choice in the workplace. The concern of employers has grown tremendously with the use of email in the workplace. Employers' concern is that, employees can waste time by sending and receiving email for personal use, and they may provide easy access for hackers to entry their computer system. Employers can monitor an employee computer activity to ensure productivity in the workplace. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (2006) states, "Unfortunately, if an employee uses a company computer for email use, the employee employer has the right to review the contents of his or her email."

This will be set up by the organisations themselves, this will set out the policies in which the staff must abide by in order to use the internet, most of the time, the policies will state that they must not use the company’s internet for personal use, and that they must use it wisely. Many measures such as passwords, authentication, firewalls and

Also to surf on to gain knowledge about new technology or business processes. Some of the employees may misuse this by using the internet to have their social networking websites- wasting their working time and hence the organizations time. This is why certain policies are made to avoid the abuse of company resources. Some companies avoid this by giving limited access to their employees like 100MB of data per day. If at all the person exceeds the limit he/she has to be ready to answer for what purpose he has done so. Some companies block the sites and given limited network access to their employees. Downloading the content or any resource of the organization in the PC or Laptop is prohibited as they are copyrighted with the organization. Any act of defaming the organization or its employees or its customers should not be posted on the internet. Using of any pirated software or downloading the pirated content by using office internet is also prohibited as it is against the laws made by the government and this leads to face legal issues for both organization and the

A policy on employee and computer monitoring will also help reduce the potential for legal liability that might arise out of the actions of the employee for electronic communications that can be found to be in violations of the laws related to workplace discrimination, harassment, and obscenity as well as those involving intellectual and trade secrets property rights. (Stephen D. Lichtenstein, p.2) Federal and state laws impose upon the employers the obligation to provide policy that will protect employees against sexual harassment or workplace discrimination. It is not sufficient that the company proves that it acted on the complaint of an employee against another employee. The conduct of an investigation will also not

The article states that “There may be a strong case for treating employees like grown-ups, but not everyone may be up to that responsibility. Goldbricking in one form or another has afflicted businesses since at least the days of the Romans. Although employer fears of abuse and diversion of effort are often overblown, anecdotal evidence does indicate that when a company begins monitoring its employee use of the Internet, it will detect some abuse, which will in turn drop off sharply once the initial warnings are issued. Generally, a warning is all that's needed to bring most people within bounds”. Here's where I advocate an open policy. Make it clear to employees just how and when you will be monitoring them, and outline the uses that you will not tolerate and the penalties that will result from such violations. You should work with the human resources department and your company's lawyers to ensure that this policy is enforceable. You should also ensure that the list of prohibited uses is frequently reviewed and easily amendable so that you can react quickly to the PointCasts and Napsters of the future. Activity monitors are tools best used with restraint. For example, I would be very hesitant to install an activity monitor on a machine in a telecommuting worker's home because of the likelihood that other members of your employee's family will use that computer.

Social networking can benefit businesses greatly. These sites allow businesses to advertise and market services to a large audience, and since a profile is free to set up, the advertisement is

In this day and age, social media has become an integral part of our lives. It has created a platform for people to share information instantly and communicate with people all around the world. Facebook is the most outstanding example of successful social media network. According to the first quarter 2015 earnings announcement by Facebook, the site has achieved 1.44 billion active users per month, and 65% of which are daily active users. Other social networking sites such as Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn are also a powerful means of communication. With such a large audience, social networking sites provide ample opportunities to acquire information, network, and connect with friends.

Social networking is a way of connecting people in the virtual world. Social networking websites have exploded in recent years,

Hammer Wines has a vast array of websites being used by employees for both personal and work use. Cyberslacking is present amongst all employees, with websites aimed at socialization and productivity which both highly used. This, however, is hard to monitor as some sites – such as Facebook.com or Deals.com - are used in the companies Sales and Marketing department, but also used in recreational down time by most, if not all, other departments. It is important for Hammer Wines to implement a strategy to monitor all Internet usage. Receptionist work productivity remained high in correlation to time spent on internet, however, it was obvious the Cyberslacking was overruling the IT department, as they spent 120 hours over the duration of the week on a games and entertainment website.

The growing issues with Internet usage in the workplace has become a major concern for employers. Employers are discovering that employees are spending hours of wasted time surfing the Internet and sending inappropriate emails. Employers classify this type of behavior as, “Internet abuse,” and breaking company’s policies. While employees see this type of behavior harmless, employers see this as potential risks to their organization. Previous researched study show employees spend hours surfing the Internet and sending non-work related emails to co-workers, family, and friends. With millions of employees having access to their employer’s Internet, companies are seeing an increase in Internet usage causing potential legal