OpenDNS, which says to be the largest global DNS service for consumers, schools and businesses, recently released a report on content filtering on the web including top ten blacklisted and top ten white listed web sites. The data they released can be all kinds of curious, so we’ve decided to create a simple infographic to help you visualize it.

Top Blacklisted and Whitelisted Sites

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As can be seen the blacklist is dominated by popular social networking sites, advertising networks (mostly because of spyware cookie concerns), and porn sites. This comes as no big surprise since these types of sites are commonly believed to be bad for productivity in the workplace, as well as school.

What is quite a bit more intriguing are the sites that are commonly whitelisted, that is, the fact that Facebook and YouTube take a top spot again. Could this be explained by various tech and web companies whose business actually depends on the use of these services in a contrary to them being a detriment? Some companies use Facebook and YouTube for their marketing purposes.

Gmail.com and Google.com are more understandable, especially if a company uses a category based filtering, as they want to make sure that the ability to search the net and check business related email is still possible. Google Translate service, business-oriented social networking service LinkedIn, Yahoo.com search engine and Skype could fall into the same category.

Deviantart.com is another interesting one though, and could also be a result of numerous web development and design companies requiring access to one of the biggest design communities around.

What do you think? What are your experiences with web site blocking in your company or school/university? Do you believe blocking is an effective and positive strategy at all?