Businesses need policies on employees' use of social networking

Businesses need to adopt effective time tracking and ethical strategies to deal with the growing use of social networking sites by employees, according to an expert.

By 2014, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are expected to account for 20 per cent of business users' interpersonal communication.

Gartner, an information technology research company, predicted that as mobile devices continue to develop their internet capacities, email and social networking will further converge and become the main way in which people share information and communicate.

Doug Miles, managing director for the Association of Information and Image Management (AIIM), warned bosses they need to establish the difference between employees 'messing about' and using social networking as a business tool.

Speaking at the AIIM roadshow last month, Mr Miles stressed the need for businesses to implement management strategies for their employees' use of social networking.

While he acknowledged the benefits for business in promoting the use of social networking, he warned: "Collaboration without governance is a recipe for disaster."

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