From the CACM Newstrack:
A recent study of 300 firms in the U.S. and Britain- the world’s two largest instant messaging markets- found that foul language, gossiping, and office gripes are commonplace in IM missives; in fact, rarely are they used for actual business-related functions. Over 65% the office workers surveyed used IM for personal reasons during work hours; nearly 80% admitted to gossiping about coworkers; and 64% slammed or schemed against management. Almost one-third of the respondents admitted to making “sexual advances” over IM in the workplace. “While (IM) has proven itself as a productive business tool, our research validates that its free-flowing and unmonitored nature is creating enormous legal liabilities, and compliance and productivity issues for organizations worldwide,” said Steve Mullaney, of Blue Coat Systems, a California-based secure proxy appliance vendor who conducted the survey. The findings also showed U.K. respondents are more blatant in their IM usage than their tamer U.S. counterparts, primarily because 71% of the U.S. workers believed (correctly) that their IMs could be traced.
Aren’t all communication channels far and away more frequently used for gossip (i.e. network structure maintenance)? I mean, this seems to represent F2F too, thus should it be surprising that it’s occurring on IM too? Of course, i doubt that they’ll kill F2F in the workplace, while they may kill IM.
Unlike IM, F2F is not nearly as easily traceable and does not leave “hard evidence”. Neither does phone. The trouble with text-based communication is just that – text, which makes it easily traceable & retainable. Yes people gossip using all other channels of communication but IM allows them to do it while the “look” like they are working 🙂 Yet there is evidence that when people “think” they are just chatting with friends at that watercooler, they are actually engaging in valuable social interactions that lead to higher levels of productivity.
Now the question for that particular study is – HOW this data was collected? Considering that the results were reported by “Blue Coat Systems” readily found at http://www.bluecoat.com, who offer IM control as one of their “business solutions” its not surprising they would tout such findings. Take a look at their white paper, its a fascinating read. The only thing that I find somewhat upsetting is that ACM would report this as “newstrack” without giving enough information to track down the actual report.