I look at the Facebook issue a little differently though. I agree with your technical synopsis but Facebook drives a browsing behavior that allows people to spend a lot of time/bandwidth on multiple photo albums. It’s true that a photo sent by email may be larger but it is restricted by the email systems in question and most people won’t bother to send entire photo albums through email due to email size limitations and its just a hassle for most people. The same applies to youtube and any other service that drives a behavior that really would not be replicated through other means such as email.

In other words, with Facebook/YouTube you will spend a lot of time/bandwidth looking at photos/videos that ordinarily you never would have looked at. You’re only looking at them now due to the convenience that these services bring to you.

I don’t care if people use those services but its when they go overboard that everyone suffers. Management reports are highly dependent on effective management being in place and not overloaded with other concerns. Unfortunately, managing bandwidth or even people’s behavior while using a computer is seen as part of the role of IT. When a Manager cannot go to \site X\ because its crowded with Facebook traffic it is still IT’s fault for some reason – even when it’s that same manager’s own staff who spends half the day on Facebook. Proving to that Manager that it was his own staff’s fault takes time/energy that could be better spent elsewhere.

I really like the limit by user concept though. If I ever find myself in a similar situation that is what I would probably go for. In Chevron there is no limit but they do block websites based on keyword – generally pornography, \hate speech\ and gambling.