Vatican Bans Facebook at its Offices
From Jack Smith at the Catholic Key blog:
"From Catholic News Service. It's in the client area, so no public link. Excerpts:
'The Vatican spokesman said the move is a "normal and prudent" measure that reflects similar strategies taken by other companies around the world that have blocked employee usage of social networking sites on office networks.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the spokesman, told Catholic News Service June 16 that "there is nothing surprising" about the new ban.'
But some employees are complaining (anonymously) about the ban because Facebook has become a major news source and for many has replaced email. That's true for me on both counts.
It's also an important way for apostolates to communicate. It is the main means of communication for the Catholic young adult groups on both sides of the state line here."
More from the CNS article:
Banning Facebook indicates a lack of knowledge about how the Internet functions and how it can be a valuable work tool, the employee said.
"Given the Vatican's foul-up with communication in the past, (the online networking ban) shows they haven't learned their lesson," the employee said.
I completely agree. It's counter-intuitive to ban the world's largest social communications website while other organs of the Vatican are expanding their active presence there. On May 25th, for instance, the Pope encouraged young people to use social media.
Sure, Facebook can be a time-waster at work, but the solution to that temptation is not to ban access to it, but rather to address the unprofessional and selfish attitudes that cause people to waste time at work. In other words, the people that are abusing Facebook at work - once it is banned - will start wasting time with solitaire. And that's pretty tricky to ban.
Sign up for the OV Daily Newsletter
OV Social
..what this vatican business is? I googled it, it sounds somewhat like scientology. I rather this is some obscure form of " god -ism" ??
Seriously, who cares. Average practitioners are either in their 60s or life in a brasilian ghetto. Whats the relevance?
As someone who works with faith communities in a nonprofit setting, I find Facebook a useful tool for effectively accomplishing my work. Of course, it is the employer's decision to ban certain kinds of internet use on the job - it is, afterall their time and their equipment. We should recognize, though, the differences between the for-profit corporate and the nonprofit/faith community sectors. If Facebook is nearly as useful for Vatican employees to accomplish its work as it has been for me in my work with faith communities, banning Facebook seems a very silly decision on the part of the Vatican.
Seems like a lot of hullabaloo over nothing. An employer can tell you that you are not allowed to be on personal websites and Facebook is a personal website. I get a lot of info on Facebook too, but my employer does not allow personal use just like employer cell phones. I do not use my employers cell phone for personal use...I have my own. An employer is paying the bills for the internet service and should be allowed to make the rules for office decorum.
There's nothing wrong with an employer disallowing the use of computer media including internet sites, blogs and email during work-hours. But it's also not surprising that you didn't use the name of any large insurance or other company who might also "Ban" the use of internet during work hours. It must be more enticing to the anti-catholic, anti-christian community to state that it was the Vatican. I am unimpressed. notme