Salesforce Uses Chatter To Monitor Employees 82
storagedude writes "At the launch of Chatter Mobile this week, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff said he has been using the Facebook-like business service to monitor employee communications and identify a 'secret network' of employees who are influential in driving the business. Asked if employees felt like they were being spied on by Big Brother, Benioff replied, 'There are certain things appropriate in a business environment. We're not talking about a tea party, we're talking about how to get things fixed.' With 20,000 companies already using the three-month-old service, it is no doubt being put to similar use elsewhere. While Salesforce's use of Chatter to monitor employees appears to be legal, the issue underscores just how much social networks can be mined for information — even for things they weren't intended for."
Re:Legal...but Creepy (Score:4, Interesting)
This will just move the puppets to those that can exploit a social networking environment.
Re:Legal...but Creepy (Score:1, Interesting)
What I find creepy is that people have been conditioned to accept the "check all your rights at the door as soon as you walk into work" belief.
Last time I checked, I was still a self-aware human being and not a mindless droid, programmed by some uncaring, faceless corporation. I do a job, they pay me for that job. I'm not sure why people get all hung up about little details like who said what to whom or who checked a personal website 1 minute before lunch break. Is the job getting done? That's all that matters. The constant pecker-checking and internal surveillance annoys people and frankly, hinders productivity. I can't work properly if some asshole is looking over my shoulder constantly, whether it's physical presence or a camera recording every move I make. I'm a good employee, I benefit the company I work for and if they decide to treat me like this, I'll go elsewhere and it's their loss.
In another life, a long time ago, I used to work at a call centre. Had employees not been able to vent to each other about their frustrations with customers, their work environment, or their bosses, I'm pretty sure we'd have had a few "postal" situations, if you know what I mean. It's healthy to vent and get shit off your back. It's the people who bottle things up that scare me.
Now before any freaks take this to an extreme to make some deluded point, I'll say right now that I'd draw the line at illegal activities on company property/grounds. That's a different issue altogether.
Re:Legal...but Creepy (Score:2, Interesting)
That's a very, very cynical point of view.
There's also a lot of people who do a good job, but just don't shout about it. The kind of person everyone else goes to for advice. The kind of person who never makes a fuss, just get on with it. Maybe they don't have the wherewithall, or even the desire, to push themselves forward and say "hey, look what I did" all the time.
Puppeteers?
Not saying it never happens, but I think there are more deserving targets for your cynicism.
Re:I think its BS... (Score:1, Interesting)
I am a Salesforce employee, product manager in the platform area. The paranoia being displayed here is pretty amazing to me. Are you guys forgetting that we are the people who have designed and built Chatter to begin with? We use the app as a convenient way to talk to people with shared interests all across the company. I have found answers to my questions on Chatter from people I've never interacted with in the normal course of my job. I have also been able to help other people with problems who might not have known I existed before. It is an EXPLICITLY PUBLIC collaboration platform. I have no problem with Marc or any other executive following me on Chatter and noticing when I reach out to get help or give help to people in other areas of the company. We also have a very structured performance assessment practice in the company that starts with each employee setting out their own goals for the next year. All in all, I would say that Saleforce is the most open company I have ever worked for, and the most deliberate about thinking about how to develop a collaborative culture with a lot of bottom-up feedback and participation in decision making.
Re:Chatter is a Salesforce product...shrug (Score:3, Interesting)
A few years ago I was working for a consultancy agency where the employees were on the road a lot and I set-up a local private StatusNet installation (then Laconica) to enable them to more easily share "stuff" with each other (mostly sharing news and general thoughts). It was and still is a big hit. So, I can certainly believe people would be using Chatter.