Facebook - blurring the lines

posted on 2nd July 2007 by Jon

Last week, Legal firm Allen & Overy were forced to back-down on a threat to ban all employees from using Facebook. This came in response to an outcry from the firm’s staff who claimed that Facebook was actually much more than just a social networking tool. The staff of A+O (whose Facebook group currently stands at 732 members) claim that Facebook has become a very useful professional/business networking site.

This is an interesting case study as it is one of the first examples I have come across of a big company backing down and providing access to a site like this. Initially, IT chiefs at A+O took the decision to block access to the website due to concerns that staff downloading videos from the site would compromise the performance of A&O’s IT systems. Translated: “We don’t like you using Facebook because you’re wasting the company time for social pursuits”.

Facebook has therefore provided us with a useful example of how the line between professional and social networks is now being blurred.

Full story covered by Legal Week.