However, I do agree with you that blocking the sites is not the right solution. I could probably identify more than a dozen examples from my own experience where social media (Twitter or Digg in particular) has made me a more efficient / knowledgeable worker.

When an individual is hired by an organization it’s because they are the best fit for the job. They do sign the appropriate documents that highlight the companies policies. It is understood that will not misuse email nor spend all day walking around and talking to people aimlessly. We all know that people use work place email for personal use and do spend some time socializing at work. This is ok, as long as the employee meets their deadlines. So if this is ok then why are these sites blocked? After all they are just different types of communication tools.

What an organization needs is to develop a Corporate Communications Policy for Social Media, that’s the right way to go about this issue. Here are some more details on an article I recently read about this.

http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/0a121e/creating_a_social

With this is place then organizations don’t need to worry about loss of productivity. They might be surprised to find out that these sites are a great resource for information, communication and most importantly collaboration.