What Are The Consequences Of Using Facebook Chat At Work?

Today’s post is a guest post by Gary Roy.  Gary Roy writes about using Facebook Chat at work, and the Facebook IM Chit Chat for Facebook.

About ten years ago there were lots of stories in the media about the proliferation of the Internet and how having access at the workplace would create a huge productivity drain.  The premise was that everyone would be surfing online and no work would get done.  It seems that, at least in the minds of these writers, productivity is equated with always working rather than getting the necessary work done.  There’s a definite difference in those two concepts.

Around the same time, several studies were conducted that concluded workers who engage in a moderate amount of surfing or personal computer time at work are actually happier and MORE productive.  For one thing, these occasional ‘mental breaks’ allow them to get back to their work more refreshed and with a clearer perspective.  For another, by taking care of certain personal matters online, while at work, these employees were more likely to stay later on the job, without the need to rush out and handle personal things as soon as the official workday ended.

Facebook at Work

There are definitely two sides to the question of whether employees should be able to use company time for personal computer use, and the controversy continues.  Now, with the advent of so many social networks like Facebook and mySpace popping up, the temptation to engage in other than work related activities while on the clock are even greater.  Some companies (and schools) have even taken to locking out these sites for fear that loss of productivity will be too great.  Maybe they’re right, maybe not, but the boss is the boss so what can you do?

Chatting At Work

People love to chat, whether it’s out in the smoke-break area, at the water cooler or online.  There are lots of instant messengers available to make keeping in contact easy and immediate, so chatting on office computers has become very popular in the last few years.

Yahoo Messenger, AIM, Windows IM and others dominated this field for some time, but lately more and more people are using the new chat function available on their Facebook account.  Facebook has become VERY popular of late, boasting a membership of several hundreds of millions of members worldwide, many of whom are finding the new chat they have available to be a convenient way to reach their friends.

But there is a problem inherent with this system.  In order to chat with Facebook you’re required to log on to their site and stay there.  This is sometimes not practical when at work (or elsewhere, for that matter).  What if the boss walks by your desk and sees Facebook open when you’re supposed to busy doing something important for the company?

Facebook Instant Messaging (IM)

Enter a new Facebook IM from a company called Chit Chat for Facebook.  Their program enables you to chat with all your Facebook friends at will, but without logging onto the site or even opening a browser.  Stealth chatting – I like it!  The program runs in the background of whatever you’re working on at the time, but alerts you when any of your friends are available to talk.  Then contacting them is just a click away.  Try it.  You’ll like it.