Australian Telco Erects Internal Ban On Facebook

Posted by Paul Glazowski on July 27th, 2007

Here’s a humorous bit of info to carry you into the weekend.

A communications giant by the name of Telstra, based in Australia, has put in place an internal ban on Facebook. That’s right. 49,000 people whose task it is to keep fellow Aussies online and exchanging packets and dialogue and whatnot have been told they absolutely cannot under any circumstances do the same during their daily/nightly shifts. I think that calls for a chuckle or two, don’t you?

Just to muse a bit, what are the chances this clampdown has happened because no corporate underlings want to befriend the CEO and others at the top floor on the social network? High, you say? Me thinks so, too.

This development from down under actually raises an interesting point. How much time and potential productivity is wasted or simply not realized because lemmings people with Net-connected computer terminals in front of their faces for a good part – or perhaps all - of their workday enjoy logging onto MySpace, Facebook, and Hi5 just too damn much? Think they add up to significant losses? I’ll venture to guess that they indeed do.

Not that it really matters all that much, generally speaking. Employees – cubicle-bound or not – have consistently been known to slack off for a portion of their days. The problem isn’t the slacking, though. It’s how they’re slacking.

Think about it. If those at the top of the ladder began to think about how they could get those wasted cycles to start turn out some profits by getting that workforce to turn fun into extra earnings, they wouldn’t have to look over shoulders so much and cut down precious Amazonian timber to keep a constant supply of pink slips at the ready. A win-win, I think.

How they might manage to pull such a feat off, legally or illegally, is really none of my concern. What I’m certain of, however, is that the incorporation of such underhanded, perhaps even devilish tactics might just get Telstra workers back onto Facebook – during work hours. It’ll help raise morale, and it’ll sure as heck make Mark Zuckerberg a richer man, which, if I’m not mistaken, is the dream of everyone around the world hopes to realize.

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