The Economist is one of my favorite magazines. I usually read it cover to cover. So imagine my excitement when I saw their special report this week, Social Networking: A World of Connections.

After I read the report, I concluded — to my surprise — that there was really not much new in the report. This is not a negative reflection on The Economist. I believe it’s a positive reflection on the efficiency of Twitter to stream the most important news and trends my way before they get summarized by a business periodical.

Nevertheless, there were a few interesting nuggets I wanted to pass along:

>>Follow me on Twitter signs are appearing on the doors and windows of small businesses around the world. Asurvey found that 17 percent of Britain’s small businesses were using Twitter. They saved an average of $8,000 a year by cutting out other forms of advertising.

>>  A survey of 1,400 chief information officers conducted last year by Robert Half Technology, a recruitment firm, found that only 10 percent of them gave employees full access to social media networksduring the day, and that many were blocking Facebook and Twitter altogether. The  executives’  biggest  concern was that social networking would lead to “social not-working.”  Some bosses also fretted that the sites would be used to leak sensitive corporate information.

>> An astonishing amount of time is being wasted on investigating the amount of time being wasted on social networks.  One study estimated that personal use of social networks during the working day was costing the British economy almost $2.3 billion a year in lost productivity. Another concluded that if companies banned employees from using Facebook while at work, their productivity would improve by 1.5%.

>> The magazine described Facebook’s “hacker culture.”  Their head of engineering’s motto is “move fast and break stuff.”  What matters is getting fresh products out to users quickly, even if they do not always work as intended. To generate new  ideas, they hold all-night hack-a-thons to at which engineers work on their pet projects. This Red Bull culture maybe why Facebook has just one engineer for every 1.2 million users.

>> Survey of 300,000 Twitters users showed more than half tweeted less than once every 74 days and 10 percent of all users account for 90 percent of all tweets.

>> Facebook’s audience is bigger than any TV network that has ever existed on  the  face  of  the  earth.

>>In Asia several social media companies such as Japan’s GREE, South Korea’s Cyworld and China’s Tencent, are already making healthy profits from sales of games, premium personalization options, virtual goods, and custom backgrounds.

>>Salesforce.com predicts that demand for corporate internal social networking services will riseas managers realize that they now know more about strangers on Twitter and Facebook than they do about the people in their own companies.

>>Intel estimates it has saved millions of dollars a year in fees by recruiting senior managers through LinkedIn rather  than using headhunters. US Cellular said it saved more than $1 mm last year by using a LinkedIn system that produced good candidates faster than traditional recruitment channels.

>> Social networks have made the labor market more transparentin another way too. A survey by CareerBuilder.com of  2,700 executives last year found that 45 percent of them looked at job candidates’ social network pages as part of their research, and more than a third of those had unearthed information that put them out of contention. Time to turn up those privacy settings?

Some interesting stuff!  Of these facts and trends, which jumps out for you as having an impact on the way you do business?

Illustrations: Part of The Economist report.

17 Comments

• 

  By Glenn Taylor, February 4, 2010 @ 8:24 am

  Great information in this post, Mark!

  In our firms short time using Twitter and LinkedIn, I cannot see the productivity loss as being a strong issue. If it is, I would say you don’t have a good plan and/or strong leadership within your program internally. The contacts and wealth of great information for us and our clients that we find every single day more than eclipses any minor amount of time lost. We encourage our employees to continue learning and be multi-dimensional. It’s the core of what our clients expect from us. Is it non-productive to read a book, watch a webinar or sit in and particpate at a forum?

  Seems many firms are using this as just another reason to stay out of this new technology rather than diving in and explore the benefits they could enjoy from it.

  How can you dismiss something when you haven’t tried it?
• 

  By Mark, February 4, 2010 @ 8:42 am

  @Glenn — great to hear your real-world perspective on this issue. In my career, I’ve observed that firms that are well-managed are likely to do everything well, and companies that are poorly managed will likely struggle with everything (HR, productivity, safety), especially if it is something new and unfamiliar like the social web.

  The enlightened view your company promotes is creating value for you and your customers. It’s probably a well-managed firm across the board. Thanks for the contribution, Glenn!
• 

  By Acree, February 4, 2010 @ 9:36 am

  As a B2B marketer I’d be interested in knowing how many of our clients are allowed access to social media during the workday.

  My own company is still kind of figuring it out. They keep me busy and challenged enough that I have to prioritize social media usage according to what will help me do my job. I usually watch Twitter throughout the day to stay informed about trends and social media, but I don’t go on my personal Facebook account at all because I know I’ll end up spending 45 minutes looking at the vacation pictures of some woman I sat behind in Calculus class in 2004.
• 

  By Mark, February 4, 2010 @ 9:41 am

  @Acree Hilarious! But you do touch on an important point — Before engaging with SM marketing, you still need to make sure your customers are even there! With my B2B customers, i still get a lot of blank stares. That’s a clue ; )
• 

  By Michael Selissen, February 4, 2010 @ 9:46 am

  From an organizational standpoint, this is fascinating stuff. Perhaps it’s a Theory X/Y thing, but there’s a great deal of churn going on, especially within large companies.

  You mentioned Intel. They created internal blogs and wikis years ago and have since allowed their employees to go public. IBM is taking a serious look, with their Beehive project, at collaborative behaviors and how Enterprise 2.0 tools can strengthen knowledge sharing and relationship building across functional groups.

  On the flip side, lots of companies still deny access to social media sites rather than acknowledge that there’s a lot of good business data out there that employees can take advantage of.

  Not surprisingly, it’s the smaller firms that see the benefits and move the quickest. Studies by the University of Massachusetts show that Inc. 500 (fastest growing) companies continue to outpace the Fortune 500s in use of social media.

  Here’s a link to the UMass research site: http://bit.ly/91whTo
• 

  By Polly, February 4, 2010 @ 9:52 am

  I have experiences similar to Acree. I stay off FB because I use it more as a personal tool, but I check my Reader and LinkedIn. Still getting used to Twitter. :)

  I work for a large firm that is a bit frightened of SM. Right now, they use it primarily for recruitment. There’s no conversation, no sharing of ideas. It’s a “look at me!” tool to broadcast events, published research, etc. I’d love to do something meaningful for our division, but we’re pretty hampered by our legal dept.

  Also, we’re a startup group within this large firm, so we’re getting our best success — for the time being — with a lot of direct contact with key targets. But we’re very close to the point where building our personal brand externally will require a stronger presence in SM. I can feel it.
• 

  By Mark, February 4, 2010 @ 10:15 am

  @Michael — I have an M.A. in organizational development so I am constantly fascinated by the internal political issues you mention that can kill any social initiative. Clearly corporate culture can be a huge enabler to social media success. I glanced through the UMass study and will read it carefully later today. This is a GREAT contribution to the discussion and to our {grow} community. Thanks, Michael!!
• 

  By Mark, February 4, 2010 @ 10:25 am

  @ Polly — This is SO interesting! You are really at the cutting edge of the big issues, aren’t you?

  It sounds as though you seriously need a social media company policy so everybody knows the guidelines and can move ahead without fear or legal encumberment.

  Generally I find corporate attorneys to be well-meaning people who want to do the right thing. I’ll bet you can come up with some “groundrules” they can support and they might even appreciate being part of a front-line marketing effort.

  A social media policy can actually be liberating. As long as you follow the guidelines, you have the license to now engage with customers in the way that is most effective.

  Please stay in touch with your progress as you deal with these roadblocks. Don’t hesitate to call or write if I can help at all, Polly.
• 

  By Joan Damico, February 4, 2010 @ 12:35 pm

  If there’s a way to waste time at work, those who aren’t engaged in their work will find a way to waste time with or without social media access. With social media, perhaps water cooler discussions will decline as well as impromptu meetings between colleagues on their way to the restroom. :-)
  That said, companies with a social media policy in place and a social media strategy and plan will be more productive and successful at social media. One of the tools I use is a conversation calendar that spells out the social media activity, frequency, and person responsible. It helps provide boundaries for social media activity. Of course, the temptation to linger on a site looking at photos and friend updates is always prevalent, but so too are deadlines and eventually we all return to our senses.
  @copywriter4u
• 

  By Jon Buscall, February 4, 2010 @ 12:39 pm

  I think the thing that has surprised me most is Facebook. Not my own personal profile but a clients Fan Page. It generates so much web traffic back to their site. It’s not just that, it’s also the way the page creates a culture of “we belong to this”. There’s such a sense of community.

  Twitter is great, but I’ve noticed an increase in the amount of “Please RT my stuff” DMs coming through. If we’re supposed to nurture our network, I don’t want to be whacked for RTs repeatedly.

  As an aside note, talking in Oslo today to a large group of mainly advertising people, I couldn’t believe how many people confessed that Facebook was banned in their office.
• 

  By Mark, February 4, 2010 @ 12:50 pm

  @Joan — I agree with your observations on employee behaviors. Thanks for sharing your successful best practice! I am so appreciative that you took the time to write today.

  @Jon — I have also seen some extremely effective Facebook marketing and hope to feature some of it on future blog posts. It has been under-represented so far.

  I also get a lot of “RT requests” and am usually glad to oblige. The dilemma is when a friend asks for a RT and the link sucks. Do I help the friend or diminish my “personal brand” by RT something awful? So far, I’ve always helped the friend. I think (hope!) that’s what matters most in the long term. Do you agree? How do other folks handle this?
• 

  By Brenna, February 4, 2010 @ 3:07 pm

  Working at a business to business company I too have to wonder if the customers are even online while I am putting effort into building a Facebook community, posting interesting (hopefully) tweets on Twitter, and networking on LinkedIn. I think it’s a real shame when companies ban social media in the workplace because there is such great potential to use it as a tool for learning, networking, and marketing your brand. It’s finally making business a little more personal again too by letting people talk to people, not just faceless companies. Seth Godin published an interesting blog post recently about the Lizard Brain that exists in all of us (http://bit.ly/ak3LLB). He talks about how we resist change and seek safety and familiarity even though we may say/think we want innovation and advancement. I think the “lizard brain” is what is causing companies to be overly-cautious in proceeding with social media but with the right research and the right plan (along with the right management) social can be an effective tool.
• 

  By Mark, February 4, 2010 @ 3:26 pm

  @ Brenna Thanks for making this connection to Seth’s ideas.

  This community has really covered some very interesting ground today!
• 

  By Jenn Whinnem, February 4, 2010 @ 4:40 pm

  I just want to say I love the {grow} community – I always learn such interesting things not only from Mark’s blogs, but also from the people who comment. Great stuff!

  That said, I work for a small B2B company that, after some initial hesitation, eagerly embraced social media. I agree with Brenna that social media, twitter in particular, affords a rich opportunity for learning. The biggest benefit to our company has been the ability to learn from the people we follow.

  I will say that I volunteer for a large non-profit that recently banned all social media sites. Unfortunately, whoever made that decision failed to realize that social media was an important piece of their advocacy strategy, and had to re-allow access to the sites so their employees could do their jobs!
• 

  By Mark, February 4, 2010 @ 11:01 pm

  @ Jenn It sounds like the work situation is righting itself and I hope the non-profit turns around too. What a shockingly short-sighted decision, especially at a time of budget constraints. Thanks for your contribution today and also your kind words. We appreciate you too!
• 

  By Kristen Daukas, February 5, 2010 @ 10:45 am

  Mark..

  As always I get so much from your posts.

  The first statistic is great and believe me.. it will go into my toolkit when working with my smaller clients who still need the “push”.

  I’m still amazed at the number of bigger businesses that have a “come here/go away” attitude towards SM. I have a younger cousin working on his MBA in marketing and they haven’t even touched on the subject.. he’s coming to me for that “class”. He’s taken over their SM efforts as part of his internship with the University. Yet, he’s reluctant to work on it during the day as he’s not sure he’s “allowed”.
• 

  By Mark, February 5, 2010 @ 4:10 pm

  Kristen — That is such an interesting ancedote! My own daughter is a college student studying journalism and business (like her old man). She recently said to me: “I am so SICK of these professors telling us social media is so important. Will you please come up here and tell them why!”

  Teaching social media marketing does not lend itself to textbook-style teaching. If you’re interested in the subject, Google Sidney Eve Matrix. She has several recent articles on her excellent blog about incorporating the social web into the college classroom. Maybe your cousin can drop a few hints!

  And thanks for the nice compliment, Kristen!

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