<ed.note>While legacy newspapers struggle to find a way to monetize their next incarnation (hint: it's aggregating and/or researching data which can be gained nowhere else than from their subscribing readership — imagine think tank-portal-citizen journalism-distributed computing a la SETI@home crunching results), Chuck Martin has been surveying business leaders finding unique real-time insight. My general impression – how many cutting edge leaders are ready for the global digital enterprise enabled collaborative results-only work environment? – um, not so many. An indicator in specific follows: "Business leaders are not confident that their department or organization has an effective plan or strategy to deal with social networking."</ed.note>
August 24, 2009 – Social Networking for Business
Summary (survey results below):
No matter the title or the size of the company, the majority of business leaders have a low confidence level that their department and/or organization has a plan/strategy on how to effectively use social networking for business.
Sixty-six percent or senior executives and managers said they have a low
level of confidence and 12 percent have a high level of confidence.
Twenty-three percent were neutral.
More managers than top executives have a low confidence level in their
business' dealing with a social networking strategy, with 74 percent of managers
having a low confidence level compared to 59 percent of executives.
By company size, more of those in large businesses have a low confidence
level
(73%) that their organization has a plan on how to effectively use social
networking compared to those in small businesses (64%).
More of those in small businesses (14%) have a high level of confidence in
their organization's approach vs. those in large businesses (8%).
Of the businesspeople who use social networking, 77 percent use LinkedIn, 31
percent use Facebook, 25 percent use Blogs and 18 percent use Twitter.
An earlier study about social networking conducted by NFI Research showed
similar results.
Thanks to all who participated in the survey.
Detailed Results follow:
When it comes to using social networking for business, what is your
confidence level that your department and/or organization has a
plan/strategy on how to effectively use it?
| Extremely High |
02.8% |
| Somewhat High |
09.0%
|
| Neutral |
22.8%
|
| Somewhat Low |
32.4% |
| Extremely Low |
33.1% |
Of those who use social networking, Which of the following services do you use for BUSINESS purposes? (check all
that apply)
| LinkedIn |
77.3% |
| Facebook |
30.9% |
| Blogs |
24.5% |
| Twitter |
18.2% |
| Wiki |
18.2% |
| Plaxo |
13.6% |
| MSN Windows Live Spaces |
02.7% |
| MySpace |
00.9% |
| Other |
13.6% |
Select responses from NFI Research members:
- With the exception of LinkedIn, the vast majority of business
executives I encounter have little or nothing to do, from a business perspective, with
social networking sites.
- Social networking is a key strategy for our organization.
- We currently block and have policies against using social networks
for business purposes.
Thank you for your input!
If you have colleagues (other senior executives or managers) who you think
would benefit from participating in our surveys, you may invite them to
join.
Just have them go to the following link to sign up for free.
http://nfiresearch.com/index.php?option=com_artforms&formid=1&Itemid=59
Follow me on Twitter @chuckmartin1
Best regards,
Chuck Martin
Chairman and CEO
NFI Research
chuck@nfiresearch.com
