London, Oct 30 : Even though companies consider the use of social networking sites like Facebook and Bebo during work to be a waste of time, a new study has revealed that it can actually be beneficial for the company.

The research carried out by think tank Demos found that if an attempt was made to control the employees’ use of such websites, it could damage the firms in the long run by limiting the way staffs communicate.

The sites are said to be useful in encouraging employees to build relationships with colleagues across a firm, but it also comes with a warning where businesses are concerned.

The research found that firms are increasingly using networking software to share documents and collaborate in ideas.

It would be really nice to know that British kids are taking their Internet safety seriously as a latest survey has suggested that they want adults to supervise them every time they are surfing the web.

Out of the total children who were surveyed, near about 45% agreed that adults should sit next to them or at least be near so that they could see what is being surfed over the web.

Other than this, two out of three suggested that pornographic sites and chat rooms on the web should be blocked or filtered.

Recently, the developers were invited by Web portal major Yahoo Inc. to access in their tools and data and thus construct social network applications.

During the month of April, the Sunnyvale Company had committed to open some parts of its code for developers to contribute applications for their platform.

Jay Rossiter, Senior Vice President at Yahoo, wrote in a company blog entry, "The business hopes you'll enjoy some incredibly unique and creative new experiences that we would never have thought of."

In harsh times where social networking sites are badly hit and are fighting hard to keep afloat, popular business oriented social networking website LinkedIn has registered a decent profit. The company has 370 employees and some 30 million members on their website.

London, Oct 26 : The Internet improves people’s ability to make snap decisions and filter large amounts of information, according to a new study.

In the study, Gary Small, director of the memory and ageing research centre at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that the brains of those tested were markedly more active when carrying out Internet searches than when reading books.

However, the stimulation was particularly in the areas that control decision-making and complex reasoning. Areas associated to abstract thinking and empathy showed virtually no increase in stimulation.

London, Oct 23: Social networking site, Facebook, is responsible for ‘friendship addiction’ and is fuelling insecurity in users, according to psychologists.

With social networking sites becoming more of a substitute for families, it is the women who are most affected by it, as they derive their self worth from relationships with others and Facebook compels them to ‘acquire’ hundreds of friends, experts say.

According to David Smallwood, an addictions expert with the Priory clinic, at least 10 per cent of the population were vulnerable to ‘friendship addiction’.