Social media 'can lower productivity'

A new report has indicated that senior executives are worried about employees using social media sites, even though they themselves check them for professional purposes.

Executives are worried that the use of social media sites could be lowering productivity, according to a new report.

Research by Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law showed that 51 per cent of senior executives in marketing, HR and management feel that employees' use of sites such as Facebook will be detrimental to their work.

However, when the executives were asked about their use of social media sites, 74 per cent said they personally visit them at least weekly to read comments made about their company.

Carol Russell, chief operating officer at Russell Herder, said: "Ignoring the need for responsible guidelines can leave an organisation open to unnecessary risk and can impede efforts to use social media proactively."

The report also showed that 52 per cent of executives routinely check their competitors' use of social media sites, while 25 per cent will use them as part of a background check of a prospective employee.

Josh Bernoff recently released figures on his Forrester blog which indicated that 80 per cent of Americans who use the internet will create, participate in or read some form of social content at least once per month.

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