A few weeks ago a security services company in the U.S. revealed that employees visited Facebook twice as often as Google while at work. This new study really just confirmed what many employers already know: their workers are doing a lot of personal surfing on the job. However, connecting on Facebook with friends and family is pretty harmless, and probably won't turn any heads in the office. What will turn heads on the job is a new work-friendly website from one of the best-known men’s magazines in the world.
Playboy just announced it's building a free site called “TheSmokingJacket.” Their one-page teaser doesn't feature any skin, but it does say that this new online property will be everything you love about Playboy “minus the stuff that'll get you into hot water at the office!”
While millions of racy sites continue to push the boundaries with weird and wacky sexual content, it appears that Playboy is trying to clean up its act. This might seem like a strange direction for the media giant, but in what the company admitted in a recent conference call with financial analysts are challenging times, this move makes perfect sense.
With so much free porn online, Playboy has had a difficult time competing. Moreover, they probably want to maintain their relatively tame image (again, compared to some of the smut on the web). Moving into a new area with TheSmokingJacket will let Playboy put more emphasis on article content and less focus on female cleavage (sorry guys, don't shoot the messenger).
Some bloggers are saying that this new publication might look more like Maxim or GQ. As a result, advertisers might be more willing to cough up extra money to support this non-nude enterprise, giving Playboy an opportunity to beef up its sales revenue. The real test will be whether or not web users go along for the ride. If the office-safe property does become a massive homerun, ironically, the real sign of success will be when it's put on the list of websites to block in the workplace.
