LONDON – Social media continues to rise in popularity, but it’s taking its toll on the economy!
Facebooking, Tweeting and everything in between is becoming a huge problem for the UK economy. New research reveals that the British economy is losing €14 billion a year due to wasted work time on social networking websites.
The research found that roughly two million workers spend at least an hour each day on Facebook, Twitter and Myspace when they should be working. More than half of the UK workforce spends 30 minutes each day on social networking sites.
“Our results clearly show that UK workers are spending increased time whilst at work on social media networks, which, leaf unchecked, could have negative repercussions on the productivity of many companies across the country,” Managing Director of Myjobgroup.co.uk Lee Fayer said in a statement with the results of the survey.
MyJobGroup.co.uk is a British employment website that said it polled 1,000 British workers and found that nearly 6 percent, or 2 million, of Britain’s 34 million-strong workforce spent over an hour per day on social media while at work, amounting to more than one eighth of their entire working day.
Many are spending so much time friending. tweeting, adding photos and video, as well as updating their profiles, that companies’ productivity is severely suffering as a result.
Despite the research and documented negative effects, many workers polled were in denial about the ill-effects of social media on their efficiency. Only 14 percent of respondents admitted to being less productive as a result of social media and 10 percent even claimed social media had made them more productive.
“Companies would do well to monitor use of social networking sites during work hours and ensure that their employers are not abusing their freedom of access to these sites,” said Fayer.
The Social Media trend has really kicked off and now what with apps like the Mobile Backstage social music tools now used by Dizzee Rascal and You Me At Six, there’s no end to it.