The Social Web and the Red Flag Act
The Red Flag Act was introduced in 1865 by the British parliament to control the use of ‘mechanically propelled vehicles’ on British public highways. The act required motorized vehicles to be preceded by a man with a red flag. Officially the parliament was concerned about public safety, because motorized vehicles could cause fatal accidents, scare horses, block narrow lanes, and disturb the locals by operating at night. In reality there were probably financial interests involved: Maintain the power of the railway and other industries at the expense of the emerging automobile industry. The act was, of course, unsuccessful (Source: Wikipedia).
This sounds very familiar to me when looking at the attitude towards the Social Web in quite a few companies and institutions today. Often employees are not allowed to access social networks at work, because it has negative implications for productivity and they could say something that they shouldn’t etc.
These measures are just as unsuccessful as the Red Flag Act. You can’t prevent the rise of an innovation, whose time has come, by requirements, bans and rules!