Posted on Sunday, August 26 2007 @ 12:01 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Internet security firm SurfControl studied the effects of social networking site Facebook in Australia and claims that this social network site costs Australian employers 5 billion Australian dollars ($4 billion) a year in lost productivity:
"People love being there and telling people what they are doing right now, what their thoughts are right at this second," SurfControl Chairman Richard Cullen told Australian radio.
"It's so interactive that people just get addicted to watching their Facebook groups all the time."
Facebook allows friends to keep in touch, post photos and monitor one another's moods and movements. It also enables people to meet others and form new social networks.
Cullen said his findings were based on a typical Facebook user, earning an average wage, spending an hour a day online. He then calculated the cost to companies, if one person in every organization spent an hour on Facebook instead of working.
"We got the extraordinary figure of 5 billion (Australian dollars)," he said.
More info
at CNET.
