Do consumer social networking sites like Facebook have a place inside corporations?

The answer to this question is the subject of much discussion across the corporate world.

On one hand, an outplacement consulting firm, Challenger, Gray, & Christmas, recently surveyed 200 human resource professionals.  They found that 23% businesses block access to Facebook.  One third view Facebook as a major source of lost productivity.  Many others view Facebook as a security risk.

On the other hand, Andrew McAfee of Harvard Business School writes about one company, Serena Software, that has chosen to make Facebook its company intranet site.  Facebook provides community building support for their highly distributed workforce, and it allows for business content to be easily shared with both employee and customer audiences.

Finally, another intriguing case, especially to the Learning & Development industry, is Udutu.

Originally a custom e-learning content developer, Udutu has recently launched LMS functionality as a series of Facebook applications.  Udutu leverages the Facebook platform to give users a LMS without the need to make a capital investment.  With the Udutu/Facebook LMS, anyone in the organization can create a course and offer it to anyone in their 'network.'  The “LMS” can be setup almost instantly, although it does require all users to have a Facebook account.

Where does your organization stand?  Let us know by answering this quick survey:

Click here to see survey results.

Thanks,

David