The word on Twitter is that the fine folks at Telstra have banned Facebook on the corporate network. This would be a retarded move for ANY company, let alone a company that is trying to position itself as a company that “gets” online. It reminds me of a question someone asked me at the recent Microsoft ReMix event in Melbourne. We (that is, the panel) have been talking about Twitter, Facebook, etc, and a guy asked “I’m the owner of a business, how do I stop my people from wasting their time on these sites instead of doing their work?” I explained that any half-intelligent employer in the 21st century should be measuring their employees by their OUTPUT, not by what time they punch the clock or what they are doing each minute of the day. Microsoft, to it’s credit, understood this years ago. Most enlightened managers (not that there are many left at Microsoft in Australia now that Frank has left the premises) didn’t care what time you turned up to the office, when you left, or what you did during the day. What they cared about was one thing and one thing only – did you get the outcome accomplished? If you did – great. Here’s your bonus. If you didn’t – then you’re in trouble. Isn’t that the way every employer should be? If you ban Facebook, do you also ban books? Magazines? Telephones? Talking to the person beside you about everything unrelated to work? That isn’t even taking into account what a useful took Facebook can be for getting your job done (depending on what your job is of course).
Anyway, this is just another example of how Telstra don’t really get what’s happening online.
UPDATE: According to Rich in the comments of this post, Telstra turned Facebook back on this afternoon? Anyone know the story?
******
Started reading “Affluenza” by Australian authors Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss today. I’ve been meaning to get to this book for years. The book poses the question: “if the economy has been doing so well, why are we not becoming happier?”
******
From the “I told ya so but you wouldn’t frakking listen” file:
“TV viewing audiences have fallen by almost 6 per cent in the past five years, with a dramatic 17 per cent drop for 16-39-year-olds, according to TV ratings group OzTAM.” (source: The Age)
And, according to Fortune:
“Newspapers are dying.”
******
I took my DOPOD 838PRO into the THREE store for repairs 7 weeks ago. At the time, they told me it would take a month. I rang four weeks later, they said it was going to take another three weeks. I rang today. They said it was initially with one repair center, Teleplan, for a month then it was shipped to another repair center, Phonetec, a week ago. The Phonetec people haven’t looked at it yet and can’t give them a date when it will be fixed.
This is frakking unbelievable. I’m now on the phone to Three customer support, letting them know I want my entire contract canceled.
Okay, well that was disappointing. I spoke with four people at Three customer support. When they couldn’t provide me with any idea as to when my phone would be fixed, I gave them a choice: give me a new phone or cancel my account. The guy in the Three cancellations department I spoke to offered me a new phone, but only the Dopod 595, an inferior model to my 838Pro. So I asked him to cancel my services. Sure, he said, but it’ll cost you $900! Bullshit, I said. That’s the hardware fee and I don’t HAVE the hardware. YOU’VE got the hardware. He said it also includes a $300 “cancellation” fee. But I don’t have the goddamn phone?!! He didn’t give a shit. So I told him I’ll find another way to make my complaint heard and get a resolution.
Anyone know anyone senior at Three?
Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.
******
Dave Wallace (from TPN’s Extraordinary Everyday People show) has made a TPN T-shirt in Second Life! Very cool, I hope he has it in my size!
He did!
Second Life is so trippy. I can’t believe I just said to Dave “I bought a new body last night but I can’t figure out how to put it on.” Sounds like something straight out of Gibson.
A mate emailed me yesterday because he was miffed his work had banned facebook just when he was starting to connect with old friends, etc (and i don’t think he has the net at home). My response was much the same as your thinking Cam;
“re Facebook – Aren’t you PR, you should ask for access to it fro IT on the basis of research and publication of the company in the realms of new media. They wouldn’t stop you reading the newspaper for an understanding of the company’s depiction in the public domain would they?”
Cam, re: Three. Tell ’em that they’ve violated Section 52 of the trade practices act, and that you’ll contact consumer affairs unless they cancel the contract.
Essentially they promised a service, i.e.: a phone to make phone calls, which in this case is not correct. It doesn’t matter what T&Cs they have, they can’t provide something that doesn’t fulfill it’s stated objective.
Cam, I am doing a short term dev project at Telstra and noticed they had turned off facebook today. The 1st thing I did was complain saying things like ‘u guys just don’t get it’ etc. Funnily enough, it came back on late afternoon (Not that it bothered me, there are ways around these things) Incidentally, Telstra still dont allow internet access to all their employee’s, which in my opinion is a crime for any company, let one in IT&T. So much of Telstra’s (and others) thinking is so yesterday.
Facebok is blocked where I work as well. But then again so many sites are. Maybe because it’s because I work in govt and they block some sites but they aren’t abusive or anything like that.
Luckily I still have Twitter access to annoy people during the day when I am bored enough.
Nice hair do Cam…
I’ll be watching “The Dopod Scandal” with interest.
Let’s face it -Facebook is addictive and has nothing to do with most people’s jobs. If you caught an employee sitting around playing a gameboy you’d probably have to fire him since you can’t ban gameboys. I think banning sites is silly, but then, I’ve never abused the privilege. Many folks can’t seem to control their impulses.
@Simon, Facebook is definitely addictive – although my addiction to is dropped after about a week and Twitter took over – but my point here is that employers don’t need to micro-manage their employees behaviour. They should be rewarding them on output or objectives, not what they do minute-by-minute.
Investment banks and the percentage of staff on FaceBook, courtesy of Confused of Calcutta.
http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2007/08/03/more-facebook-musings/