In today’s age of constant tech immersion, it is hard not to make a habit of using social media while you are working. As we all know, social media can easily distract you from what you need to be doing, but it also has many advantages.

Although you may think when it comes to work, social media is nothing but a distraction from the task you are paying your employees to do. The main question that comes to the mind of most employers is, “should I ban social media during work hours?” For many small businesses, a strict ban will not have positive results. It will give the impression that you do not trust your employees to manage their own time wisely.

Pros

  • Answer questions
    • Since we are constantly connected to millions of people, why not use them? Between all of the people also connected to these social platforms at least one of them is bound to have the answer to your question. The real question is what you do once you have received this info. Always make sure you fact check to make sure you were not being fed fake answers.
  • Mental break
    • Above all having short focused mini breaks are important, both to improve concentration and to boost productivity. But make sure these short internet roaming breaks don’t turn into a two hour long trip down the rabbit hole.

Cons

  • Misinformation
    • With the seemingly endless feed of information on these social platforms that info can easily be misinterpreted or just incorrect altogether. When looking for answers online once again once you fact check and make sure you are not posting info about your company that isn’t truthful.
  • Security issues
    • A continuously overlooked disadvantage of social media at work is the constant risk of security as well as the risk of viruses and malware. With your employees being connected 24/7 the chance of them uploading or posting critical information about the business rises. Alongside that, they also have the chance of downloading a virus from one of the platforms.

The easiest way to monitor or control social media usage in the workplace is to educate your staff and train them on the proper usage both in and out of the workplace and stress on them how much a simple click or comment can negatively affect the business as a whole.

Have any questions or comments? Leave them below.