From the Great Firewall of China to the public schools of Britain, IT security experts are finding that restricting Internet access can have the unintended consequences of civic backlash, poor worker productivity, and students unprepared for cyber threats.

And on internet restrictions in the workplace:

Finally, unlike schools or governments, employees are free to leave any time. A recent survey found that 39% of 18-24 year-olds would consider quitting social media-restricted workplaces. While I have yet to see businesses tout their browsing policies at my University’s career fairs, I imagine that bragging about unrestricted Internet use would actually turn some well-educated heads.

There are a lot of issues with social media in a workplace, especially a government workplace.  Do you allow employees to access social media?

Social media has some of the same vulnerabilities, sure, but there are tools to mitigate risk just like with e-mail, computer use or the chance that a spouse will give away information on the phone. Short of locking up all employees in the basement, there will always be security risks. Social media does have its own set of vulnerabilities, but to write it off as a lost cause because of the risk is overreacting, in my opinion.

A very interesting perspective on social media in the military.  He responds to many of the criticisms of social media, a must read.

The real solution to the social networking security problem is to embrace sites instead of blocking them. Rather than being overly restrictive, companies would do better to make social networking policies a part of their corporate policy and procedure manuals, spelling out what is and is not acceptable within their organization. Left up to users, it’s clear that for some, it’s anything goes…and that’s a danger most companies cannot afford.

• appropriate implementation, authorization and acceptable use of social media

• Security measures to protect individuals, sensitive information and state systems

• Proper records management and preservation

Many people use open records compliance issues as a reason not to utilize social networks and social media.  If you make the Facebook page for your city and your Twitter account public, where is the issue?  A citizen can see everything that has occurred.  It is, by definition, open.  I think this is a moot issue.

Nobody has control over what their Facebook friends do — that’s the fun and the flaw of Web 2.0 for governments. Then again, when citizens go to the microphone at a council meeting, nobody has control over them, either.

I found this interesting:

Please not [sic] that comments expressed on the City’s social networking sites do not reflect the opinions of the City of Delano, its employees, or elected officials.

As a  side note, I thought I would post this in retweet format because I found out about this through Twitter.

… the crux of the matter is (1) to empower employees to access external social networks (2) in order to find useful avenues to deliver value to both their constituencies and their agencies.