According to research conducted by FaceTime Communications, 60 percent of IT managers are more concerned about the use of social networking in the enterprise than are concerned with e-mail use.

Nearly one-third of those surveyed are in organizations that have policies against employee access of social networking sites at work, and 20 percent said they are concerned about social networking, but their organizations have not yet established a policy.

“As the line between work and personal life blurs, Web gateway security becomes more complicated. Employees are no longer just shopping online — they are accessing Facebook, MySpace and other Web 2.0 applications from their work PCs to collaborate and interact with friends and co-workers,” says Kailash Ambwani, president and CEO of FaceTime.”

In a Gartner report titled “Social-Networking Sites Present Real Business Risks and Benefits,” Peter Firstbrook says: “There are corporate advantages to allowing social-networking sites, the most compelling of which are attracting employees and providing a progressive work environment.” Firstbrook recommends that “organizations should only block social-networking sites after conducting a careful analysis of the risks and benefits.”