5 Reasons Not to Block Social Media in the Workplace

Not to mention, smartphones and the increase in remote access via tablets and SaaS applications, are likely resulting in your staff checking on work email and other work issues during their personal time. It’s usually a series of minor trade-offs that result in a little of their private life reaching into their workday, and vice versa. As the manager, owner or partner, you are the one who sets productivity goals and expectations for your staff, so you are the one who will know if someone is lagging, for whatever reason. If they are performing as expected or better, then they are successfully balancing this trade-off.

Security Tip: Be Skeptical of Shortened URLs

They are everywhere, especially on social networking sites, blog posts and other online news sources. But what you can’t see can hurt you and your computer. There are many versions of web-address shortening tools out there (TinyURL, Bit.ly, Ow.ly, etc.), and they are definitely useful resources, since some websites have monstrously long URLs. For the most part, the tools are offered by legitimate companies. Some are even built into apps like TweetDeck and HootSuite.

The potential problem is this: There’s no way of really knowing where that link is going to take you. While the full browser version of Facebook at least offers the headline from the original article and the real source, it’s not foolproof, and tweets offer pretty much zero ability to scrutinize where the link will take you. It could be to the site mentioned in the post, or it could be to a spam site or worse. I do occasionally include shortened URLs, but my policy on clicking on them is entirely based on whether I actually know the person who posted it. That’s not foolproof either, since emails and Facebook posts often get scammed, but it’s better than nothing.

For your information, you can shorten the URLs for many websites, including ours, by removing all but the main site name and an ID number at the end of the address. For instance, the long web address for this article can be shortened to www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/10278893. It’s not as short as a TinyURL, but it at least keeps the name of the website obvious to potential clickers.

For more social media tips for your practice, see:

• 6 Pointers for Your Firms Social Media Strategy www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/10243408
• Leveraging Social Media to Build Your Business www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/10268415