As I update our web pol­icy, I am reminded of a prob­lem that I’ve run into almost con­stantly as edi­tor of my cam­pus news­pa­per: Face­book as a dis­trac­tion from work.

I’ve con­sid­ered block­ing the site on each news­room com­puter except one, where reporters/editors could log on to use the site legit­i­mately. I really don’t want to have to do that though. I’d like to instead enforce a rule that would help curb erro­neous or aim­less use of the site, espe­cially when other work could be done. There are always press releases to be rewrit­ten and story idea sheets to be writ­ten up, etc.

Any sug­ges­tions? I’d like to encour­age respon­si­ble use of the com­put­ers rather than act­ing like a mean babysit­ter. Just for ref­er­ence, its the copyeditors/designers and edi­tors them­selves who are the biggest offenders.