Super Bowl Monday could slow Internet

The day after the Super Bowl could be a bad day for your network if too many of your workers spend their time on social networks talking about the game instead of using their terminals to work. Network security vendor Palo Alto Networks issued a warning last week to IT executives that social network conversations about the Super Bowl and downloads of video highlights could slow down their sites.

"There are events that are broad-spectrum cultural events like the Super Bowl and some holidays where you see a lot of video viewing and people posting comments about the game and their favorite commercials," Palo Alto Networks spokesman Chris King, told Computerworld.

"With Facebook and Twitter, there's a lot of interaction. You're marrying the discussion with video sharing. The first thing people think about is whether their organization is experiencing a productivity hit, but there's massive bandwidth consumption too, because people are watching all these videos," King added.

King suggests sending out an email asking workers to stay off social networks, especially during peak times like on Monday, except for business use.

For more on Super Bowl Monday:
- see this Computerworld.com article