Control Facebook Usage? | Ask The Experts
We require access to Facebook and other social websites for vetting / HR purposes but need to be able to control our employees from using it for personal use
The Issue:
Many companies are feeling the pinch on loss of productivity from their workers. Recent surveys show that the average employee spends up to 3 hours a day on Facebook and social networking sites during office hours. However, most companies require access to Facebook & social network sites for vetting purposes. Recruitment companies and HR departments in particular, require Facebook to screen potential employees or candidates. The issue is that more employees are using Facebook for personal use rather than work use. So the question is, how do we control Facebook?
The Solution
As most companies requires Facebook access for vetting proposes, blocking it via a web proxy or web filter would not be practical. Veridical solution allows administrators to have granular control over Facebook and other social websites. With Veridical solution, an administrator could allow employees’ access to Facebook, but deny access to its features such as Facebook chat, Facebook email, Facebook wall. Imagine a HR department or a recruitment agency being able to access Facebook to vet potential employee’s profiles but not being able to upload pictures, update their status, and write comments to their friends and so on. Policies can also be applied to allow one group or individual to have more privileges on social websites than others or block access for one group but allow it for another.
These policies can be based on IP address or better, their Windows AD group or username. The possibilities are endless.
Veridical can also completely block Facebook / Social websites altogether, which most web proxy fail due to DNS tricks and bypassing with Terminal Services and Internet based proxies.