eWEEK Readers Spurn Social Media At Work

Social networks such as Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter, are going to change business, right? Wrong. eWEEK Europe readers say, in the office, they are a pointless waste of time.

In this week’s poll, a clear majority rejected the idea of using social media in business, with around 70 percent voting against it. Over a quarter said social networks were a waste of time, while others regard them “an insane security risk” or use them for “goofing off” at work.

Pointless … and an insane security risk

At first, the most popular response was actually the positive view that social media are “a vital new business paradigm”. After all, it is widely asserted that businesses can get benefits from social networks. Business-oriented social site LinkedIn is planning a £110 million flotation, and special enterprise social apps such as Tibco’s Tibbr are appearing.

But the negative viewpoints swept past them. Twenty-eight percent of people – the biggest group – believe social media are a “pointless waste of time”, echoing reports that social networking wastes billions of pounds.

Twenty-one percent think that social media are “an insane security risk”, agreeing with Sophos’ view that social network scams are this year’s biggest security threat. Scammers, incidentally disagree on the utility of social networking as a tool – they increasingly use it to manage their attacks.

Twenty percent don’t mind doing social media at work – they think it is cool, but admit they are “goofing off” which adds to the “waste of time” group.

There were, of course, more negative than positive views in the list of options, but that was because we found it easier to think of them – and respondents who checked the “other” option mostly just wanted to point out to us that they think social networks are “an insane security risk AND a pointless waste of time”.

We certainly enjoyed hearing your opinions on this, and we will be sharing them with our social networks. We’d encourage you to do likewise of course, using all the social media tools at your disposal…

What do you want to know from MWC?

Looking forward, the tech industry is gearing up for one of its major international spasms of activity: Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona from 14 February.

This is the show where all the new phones emerge, and all the mobile OSes claim they rule the world. Here’s where mobile chips are shown off, mobile security techniques are dusted down, and new technologies like femtocells get a brief moment in the watery sunshine of an Iberian February.

We will be there of course, looking for tech stories to excite you. Vote in our new poll – on all pages of our site now – and let us know what stories you think we should be following.

Alternatively, if you want a free entry ticket to MWC, we have 11 to give away. All you have to do is sign up as a fan of our Facebook page.

Go on, you know you like social media really….