An eloquent piece in the Daily Mail yesterday by Dragon's Den star Theo Paphitis argued that Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. Called 'Why ALL bosses should copy me and ban Facebook from the Workpace' it's well written and persuasive.

And the headline is wrong, but I've been a hack long enough to know there's no way Paphitis himself wrote that. No, he's not banning Facebook from the workplace completely, if the sub had only read the thing, he's banning it during working hours. If people want to Facebook or whatever during their lunch break he has no problem with that, he just objects to people watching the site when he's spending his children's investment paying them to work.

I'm still not sure he's right. The other day I had an issue with a set of headphones - turned out it was a problem with the phone rather than the phones, if you follow, but it was frustrating. So I moaned about it on Twitter and within minutes - no, really - I had a message from the manufacturer, Jabra, asking whether they could help. My social media book, aimed at business users, is out in a few weeks and in it I talk to a number of businesspeople who've done well by understanding what they're doing with this newfangled means of communication. ITV.com using it for damage limitation when someone went to a commercial break during a penalty shoot-out. Carphone Warehouse finding and dealing with customer complaints, turning complainers into brand advocates through social media (and they'd be trumpeting the brand just as loudly as they'd have been denigrating it before).

I'd certainly agree that undirected social media use is likely to harm a business. But shutting it all off during working hours is a bit like cutting out the telephone during those hours - by all means there will be people who'll become more productive but you can miss so much in terms of passing trade.

I've promised to send Mr. Paphitis a copy of my book. I'll let you know if he comments.

Tags: theo paphitis, Guy Clapperton