digg

Facebook Connect Join Digg About

Are Employees Twittering Away Productivity?

fastcompany.com — As the enterprise microsharing market grows all in, I hear from skeptical leaders befuddled by this trend, wanting to be reassured their people aren't simply wasting time. Here are specific questions I've received and how I respond to each.

Who dugg this? Made popular Nov 6, 2008

Digg DudeWhat is Digg?

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg surfaces the best stuff as submitted and voted on by the community. Take the Tour to learn more.

46 Comments

show profanity settings
expand all
  • inactive, on 11/06/2008, -0/+58Not me. I am Digging away Productivity at work
  • Sh0rtstak, on 11/06/2008, -2/+43@brainovate yes
  • slvrbullet87, on 11/06/2008, -0/+19coming from the guy who is posting on digg in the middle of the day
  • iheartrendering, on 11/06/2008, -1/+15I manage to twitter and kick some hardcore ass at work.

    Feces.
  • vilago, on 11/06/2008, -0/+11dugg for randomly throwing poop out there
  • WatchDragon, on 11/06/2008, -0/+8my codes compiling.
  • serif69, on 11/06/2008, -0/+7I buried this at work.
  • thefandango, on 11/06/2008, -0/+6Retweeting Sh0rtstak: @brainovate yes
  • Andy.D, on 11/06/2008, -2/+8In my office, they most certainly are. I have some coworkers that spend more time on IM and twitter than doing their jobs. It's annoying as hell.
  • DrVic, on 11/06/2008, -0/+6I am digging my company into a hole.
  • ohnoerino, on 11/06/2008, -1/+7YES.
  • TMTurtle, on 11/06/2008, -2/+7They're being very productive.

    Just not necessarily at their job.
  • MalarkeyPN, on 11/06/2008, -1/+5No, I can't. Everything I've tried interferes with the company-wide security system. I called tech support and they failed. I even personally talked with the head of customer operations (he oversees a few hundred people) to see what could be done. It was all to no avail. Pretty crazy stuff.

    The problem is, nobody takes me seriously. I tell them I would be better off and more productive if I could block these sites, and they just wonder "well, why don't you just stop going to them?" Obviously if that worked, I wouldn't bother asking. I consider myself an internet addict at work. I would love to not be wasting so much time. Still, I'm one of the best employees they have.
  • MalarkeyPN, on 11/06/2008, -2/+6Bury this comment, but if I could block Digg from my work computer, I would.
  • inactive, on 11/06/2008, -2/+5100% !
  • DreKor, on 11/06/2008, -0/+3that is the preferred nomenclature...
  • cubicledrone, on 11/06/2008, -0/+3I could retire in an hour if I collected $100 from every powerpoint-humping management ***** who can't define "productivity."
  • gatorfree, on 11/06/2008, -2/+5Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains. Labor precedes Capital. If I do a kick-ass job then my capitalist slavemasters can back the ***** off and let me twitter every once in a while.

  • cubicledrone, on 11/06/2008, -0/+3The "enterprise microsharing" market? What the FuuUUUuUUUuUUUUCK??

  • SuperStromboli, on 11/06/2008, -0/+2ditto
  • thefandango, on 11/06/2008, -0/+2LOLXKCD
  • VanLynx, on 11/07/2008, -0/+2LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL LOL
  • winstonsmith303, on 11/06/2008, -0/+2***** YEAH!
  • hokie47, on 11/06/2008, -0/+2I stopped doing work to digg that.
  • DreKor, on 11/06/2008, -0/+2oh sorry, i was assuming you had more security privileges on your work computer. If you're on firefox you can use the BlockSite addon.
  • serif69, on 11/06/2008, -1/+2If I could submit digg comments via Twitter, I'd be in work avoidance heaven.
  • DreKor, on 11/06/2008, -0/+1you can...
  • inactive, on 11/06/2008, -1/+2only twits use twitter
  • Skunkhair, on 11/06/2008, -1/+2I manage a Home Depot and with the growth of iPhone usage I use tools such as twitterlator, Twinkle and Brightkite to see any chatter about Home Depot, in particular, my Home Depot. I reach out to these folks to see if there is any way I can help them out. Several companies, including my own (@TheHomeDepot) are branching out to twitter. But yes... i probably tweet when I should be working.
  • RexStJames, on 11/08/2008, -0/+1If you were looking at blocking software to run on your work computer, maybe you could consider adding digg's IP address to your HOSTS file pointing to something else, localhost or maybe your company website to remind you to get to work. In Windows you should be able to find your "hosts" file in: C:Windowssystem32driversetc
    Open that file with a text editor (notepad works). Then just add a line at the end, something like
    127.0.0.1 digg.com
    or perhaps:
    74.125.95.99 digg.com

    The first will simply block you from going there (assuming you're not running a web server on your local machine.) The latter will take you to www.google.com (with IP address 74.125.95.99). Substitute 74.125.95.99 with the IP of any other website if you want to go there instead.

    Hope this helps, but you may need local admin on your machine to do it. This also assumes that you have the self-control to not go change your hosts file back :)
  • uknowwhoibe, on 11/06/2008, -0/+1I remember that one!

    http://xkcd.com/303/
  • inactive, on 11/06/2008, -0/+1Twitter, twitterlator, Twinkle... seriously, did someone from HGTV name these tools?
  • kidjay, on 11/06/2008, -0/+1to be fair, now i just have one more thing to do while waiting for something to do or procrastinating.

  • LinuxCobra, on 11/06/2008, -1/+1I am posting on DIGG now.
  • smergs, on 11/06/2008, -1/+1That's funny. I just finished twittering (from my phone) how I don't understand why they would block twitter here at my work. Glad I have a phone I can twitter from. That and I can still get to digg. :)
  • Prodigyman, on 11/06/2008, -1/+1Man I would not know what to do without Digg @ work on slow days
  • darkism, on 11/06/2008, -1/+1I'll tweet 'til they block it.
    Then I'll evade the block and tweet some more.
  • MalarkeyPN, on 11/06/2008, -1/+1No.
  • iKnowKungFoo, on 11/06/2008, -1/+1More often than not, I Twitter when I have a programming problem, am bemoaning a problem or have found some amazing (or stupidly simple) solution to a problem. I also suggest solutions to people I follow and thankfully some of them offer solutions back. It can be a great soundboard.
  • inactive, on 11/07/2008, -0/+0What a ***** cliche of journalism this article is. Yes we know productivity is lost to ***** off on the Internet. You don't have to write a separate article for each site.
  • inactive, on 11/06/2008, -1/+1Nope, just Digging my way out of a job
  • priyankeshu, on 11/06/2008, -0/+0which company do you work for ;D
  • halfbrown, on 11/07/2008, -1/+1If you can't trust your employees enough to trust that they aren't going to abuse privileges like being able to use Twitter or Digg at work then you've either made some terrible choices in hiring or you probably aren't a very good boss.
  • Elpea, on 11/06/2008, -2/+2I'm digging and twiterring away my productivity.
  • beedo34, on 11/06/2008, -3/+2csizzle if you'd like to follow.
  • lovek, on 11/06/2008, -2/+1Yes, I also meebo and mibbit away productivity. (and digg of course)

  • Add a Comment

    Login or register to comment!
    Or, sign-in super fast with your Facebook account ...


© Digg Inc. 2009 — Content created and posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain | Terms of Use Updated | Privacy Policy
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.