54% of CIOs prohibit any social media use in the office according to a survey of 1,400 CIOs from across the country conducted by Robert Half Technology. Another 36% of companies limit usage by employees to either “business only” or “limited personal use”. And only 10% of companies allow any type of personal use of social media.

Wow. Those are staggering numbers and a big, big mistake.

While rampant use of social media by their employees could be unproductive for companies, it is a missed opportunity for your employees to connect with your customers. It is important that employees have an opportunity to play with social media in a business setting in order to understand the tools and then they need to be properly educated about how to effectively use the tools to promote the company’s brands and culture. Banning social media just puts your company behind all the other companies that are using social media and diminishes your chances for long-term viability.

We are going to discuss all sorts of good stuff.