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Log Off and Get to Work

By Brad Stone

Turns out your bosses don't want you updating your social networking page at the office.

Web security firm Barracuda Networks polled 2,400 of its own customers and found that 50.2 percent block access to social networks MySpace and Facebook. But companies treat the two sites differently. 43.9 percent block MySpace, and only 25.6 percent block Facebook.

Do employers distrust the entertainment and dating-focused MySpace more than the cleaner, more predictable Facebook? Not necessarily. “Anecdotally, it just appears MySpace is better known,” said Dean Drako, Barracuda's chief executive. “Some of our customers didn't know what Facebook was.”

Barracuda, based in Campbell, Calif., blocks its 350 employees from accessing social networks. “Our experience has been that they are a little bit of a productivity drain,” Mr. Drako said.

Barracuda said that in general, 53 percent of companies now restrict employee Web surfing. One in five companies that filter Web surfing also actively monitor employee online activities, which should make you think twice before you SuperPoke a friend on Facebook from your cubicle.

Mr. Drako predicted about two-thirds of companies would be filtering by next year, and said the social networks are helping to drive that movement. “People are concerned about productivity and offensive content coming from these sources,” he said.