Let's Get Ethical.

I think everyone would agree that watching youtube videos while on company time is unethical. Which explains why so many companies firewall social media sites, restricting employee access to potential time wasters like facebook and, yes, even twitter.

Because, really, is spending the majority of your day updating your status or perusing the profile of that friend's brother's girlfriend's second cousin's best friend productive at all?

But what if a company wants to use a social media tool as an outlet for PR?

Hello, double standard. I'd like to introduce you to my good friend business ethics. Business ethics, meet double standard. Be careful around him though, he's a little two-faced.

Is it a double standard for a company to restrict an emplyee's access to social media sites, and yet allow its PR department to use them as a resource? What if the employee was using the site to promote the company/service/product? What if they were only accessing the site during their lunch break? Is it ethical to determine what an employee can or cannot do during that time?

It's clear that, ethical or not, some companies will continue to firewall sites that they consider "time wasters" while others will trust the judgement of their staff to use these sites appropriately. I think one thing everyone will agree on, though, is that viewing Cookie Monster Sings Chocolate Rain even once is unethical.