Ontario government employees won't be among the 21 million worldwide users of the popular social networking website Facebook — at least while they're at work.

Premier Dalton McGuinty said Thursday he doesn't see how Facebook — an internet phenomenon that allows members to display their profile, photographs, interests and comments to fellow users and reconnect with long-lost acquaintances — adds value to a workplace environment.

McGuinty was commenting a day after the province barred government staff from accessing the website from their workplace terminals.

When workers tried to log on to their accounts Wednesday, they were greeted with "access denied" messages on their screens in the same way as pornography and gambling sites are blocked on provincial computers.

The popular video-sharing site YouTube is also restricted.

Facebook is "puzzled" by the government's decision to restrict access to the site, said Chris Kelly, the company's vice-president and chief privacy officer.