I’m not a witch! I’m not a witch!
So says Facebook, and many other new technologies, tools and cultural norms that try to survive the vagaries of dark age corporate policies. Facebook isn’t unique (in the sense that corporate antibodies are out to ‘get it’) as JP points out:
I remember a time, it must have been the early 1980s, when it was common to ban phones with direct dial facilities. Why? Because people might talk to their friends and family during work time. It took a while for firms to figure out that this was a stupid thing to do, but most carried on with a limited ban, usually on international direct dialling. That lasted a little longer. Then, by the early 1990s, when internet e-mail emerged, it too was banned. In fact there are stories about the banning of corporate e-mail as well, continuing into this century. Soon it was the turn of Instant Messaging to bear the wrath of Corporate Policy. Then came blogs and wikis and social software in general. Now it’s about social networking.
Since the year Dot, there have been organisational Grand Panjandrums seeking to stop people from “talking”. Because that’s what all this is. Conversation. Phones. E-mail. IM. Blogs. Wikis. Social networking. Conversations. That’s all.
Which is why, the ‘She’s a witch’ scene in Monty Python’s Holy Grail is actually an allegory for the timeless battle between new technologies like Facebook (the Witch), corporate middle and senior management (the villagers and peasants), and the CEO/CIO (Sir Bedevere):
(besides even if it isn’t (an allegory), it’s very funny.)
