Social Networking Not IT's Problem (Week #2, Blog #1)

I found this article on computer world's website dealing with social networking tools such as blogs and wikis. The url can be found at: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=297531. I have summarized the article below and given my thoughts on what I think whose to blame for Social networking tools.

The article’s main focus is how it is not IT’s responsibility to control social networking tools 100%, instead the administrator or author of the tool should be control the tool, as well. Jim Klein, in the article, states that his school district wanted a blog for teachers and students to use to communicate. However, he did not want to be the “blog police” so he stated that teachers had to approve of posts before students saw the content. He states that “for the tools to be successful, the buck has to stop somewhere other than IT.” This is very true because many want to blame IT for everything. In the article it mentions, very heavily to plan ahead. Many companies integrate social networking, like wikis. The company creates the wiki and something goes wrong. Then the fingers all get pointed to IT. When it all boils down to it social networking tools it is everyone’s responsibility, not just IT’s.

Finally the article mentions that “IT can help curb bad behavior by employing authorization and authentication controls to render social networks privately.” Privately means only members can view entries. Regardless if the tool is private or public, the administrator can control what is posted and can delete postings, as needed. Of course, the article states, if members do not behave then it is the administrators responsibility to either kick the user off or remove posts, not IT’s. It is very important that the organization and/or company help manage technology because IT cannot play the social police while managing other business activities, like servers and web development.

The article is extremely reliable because this is an issue being faced today. With Facebook, MySpace, and other social networks IT is constantly being blamed. Parents are criticizing MySpace for allowing adults to be talking to children. It is not IT’s responsibility to control what your child does that is why they are the parents. The same thing applies in the business world that it is not IT’s job to constantly being the police of social networking.