Surf control; it seems like such an archaic practice. The sort of knee-jerk reaction some frightened religious sect might resort to. And yet, it's still common practice for so many companies around the world.

For me, banning web pages in the hopes of keeping people focused at work is the sign of a company hopelessly out of touch with technology and laughably behind the times. They trot out the old reasoning: productivity, responsibility, keeping out inappropriate web traffic - but do any of these things still apply?

Does it really boost productivity? Not according to more and more studies which say the exact opposite. As people's real world lives become more symbiotic with their online persona, visiting sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace aren't much different from checking your email.  And in fact a survey from a few months back showed time spent visiting online social profiles made employees more focused when returning to their duties. 

Photo by: Paul Linton (via Flickr)

In my mind there's little difference between that and having newspapers available in a common room for people to read on their breaks. Does it really make a difference where your employees are sourcing their information from? Does it somehow become more respectable if they're getting it from a printed page (now if it's the Toronto Sun)?

The productivity issue could be debated ad nauseum and the statistics are still open for debate, but what's not, is the idea that you don't trust your employees.

As I've mentioned in other posts, why not take the unpopular position of trusting your staff from the get go? Why not give them the benefit of the doubt and allow them to use the web as another useful tool, instead of some time-sucking abyss. I've always thought that banning certain (non x-rated) sites speaks volumes about the kind of workplace you're creating.

Lift the reigns a little and let them surprise you. Besides, if the work isn't getting done, you'll figure it out pretty fast.

Shortening links on Twitter is a matter of necessity, to allow us to be as verbose as possible while conserving those precious 140 characters. Using a link shortening tool is something most of us never give a second thought to.

But when you see how much great information you can glean from these shortened links, you may change your tune.

Consider this very cool (and free) tool from bit.ly which allows you to source information like who’s talking about your website or blog, where they’re talking about it and what’s being said. It’s easy to install and almost easier to use.

Just drag the link to your web browsers tool bar.

Then visit a webpage you want stats on and open the bit.ly side bar. Presto! Instant info (Interesting side note – this works on all webpages - even your competitors - so it would be pretty easy to see if someone else is being successful at something and why).

Having played around with this for a short while the tool seems pretty robust. On top of monitoring web conversations, you can also auto-post to a few social networks including Twitter (of course) and Facebook.

Not long ago I was watching a round table discussion between some marketing/social media types discussing how to use social networks for marketing. They discussed how this new medium definitely changed the methods of approach, going from the old “canon” model (shoot your ad at as many people as possible) to the “laser” model (searching strategically for your customers amongst the crowd).

One of them came up with the great analogy that marketing in a social media atmosphere is like throwing a party. Because of the way social media is set up, you can’t really broadcast your brand everywhere and so you have to invite people to come to you. Their point: You have to throw a better party than everybody else.

This is a fantastic analogy in my mind but it doesn’t stop there. Once you have everyone at your party are you careful to be a good host?

Too many times I see people get caught up with drawing people into their social network and then can’t understand when their numbers plateau or quickly start to fade. It’s because the audience isn’t being engaged – your party sucks and people are going home early (or worse yet, to another party).

Engagement doesn’t have to be a difficult thing but it does have to be a constant thing. Ask your audience questions; give them poignant content and links to interesting and topical websites. Give them a forum to offer opinions and discuss their ideas.

A good host doesn’t run out of food and drink because if they do, people just leave the party.