Three of the most popular websites on the Internet are also the three most-blocked sites by businesses in 2010, according to a new industry report.

I recently got a message from my friend Jesse Torres, CEO of Pan American Bank to look an interesting article on Human Resources Executives Online. The article highlights an internal debate on blocking popular websites within an organization. As much as we know Facebook is about the most popular site on the internet and has more traffic than any other site today. But before reading futher a question employers have failed to ask is; “What is the essence of blocking access to Facebook and a few other popular site sites when employees can easily access these sites via their smart phones and other mobile devices?”

Nokia, Blackberry, Samsung, HTC to name a few are perfecting their newer phones with commonly used applications like social media apps to keep users tuned in whether at work or relaxing. Does banning access to these sites at work really stop employees from visiting these sites? That’s a question to think about.

OpenDNS, a San Francisco-based provider of Internet navigation and security services, recently released its list of the top 10 most-banned websites by businesses in 2010 as part of its first-ever in-depth report on the topic, entitled 2010 Report on Web Content Filtering and Phishing (PDF). The report is based, in part, on the firm’s 30 billion queries it receives daily from users.

“Businesses have specific goals in mind when blocking websites,” the report states. “They need to ensure compliance with HR policies, while also increasing worker productivity by preventing what they consider to be employee cyber-slacking. … This list shows that businesses are concerned with singling out popular sites considered to be of little value in a work setting, especially if they consume a lot of bandwidth.”

“Overall, 2010 was all about social, and this trend is reflected in the data we’re seeing,” says OpenDNS Founder and CEO David Ulevitch.

“Facebook is both one of the most-blocked and the most-allowed websites, reflecting the push/pull of allowing social networking at schools and the workplace,” he says. “This trend was also apparent in the phishing data we analyzed, where Facebook and other websites focusing on social gaming were frequently the targets of online scammers.”

Ulevitch says the research also shows that Facebook occupies a unique place in the wired world… Read more