One in three UK companies block social media

According to research conducted by Clearswift, up to a third of companies block employees from accessing social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter.

The internet security firm revealed that there was growing fears about internet security. These fears were down to recent high profile hacking incidents, such as the loss of customer data from the Sony Network.

Chief operating officer at Clearswift, Andrew Wyatt observed:

“It is clear that we have seen some significant changes in attitude towards social media use in the last 12 months. Businesses have reacted to the series of high-profile data leaks and have become increasingly nervous about its usage from the workplace”

“Social networking sites often have little to do with data-loss incidents, but they have become guilty by association, because they are seen as having an impact on a company’s brand,” he added.

The number of companies in the UK blocking social media has increased by a fifth in the past year, as 53% of managers indentify social media as an issue for concern. Banks have for many years had blocking policies in place to prevent employees from accessing social networks, it now seems that a number of other industries are following suit.

Moneysupermarket.com has always had a relaxed approach to employees accessing social networks, but they are now looking to implement guidelines for staff to use social media. At the Anglo-Dutch energy company, Royal Dutch Shell, employees are not blocked access from Facebook, however if employees choose to access the site, they are reminded with a pop-up screen not to use personal sites during work hours.

On a global scale, a fifth of companies block their employees from accessing social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Last year, German car manufacturer, Porsche, banned their employees from using social media channels due to their fear of industrial espionage. Although farfetched, firms have become very wary of social media and the potential threat that it can have upon their companies.

91% of companies had become so concerned about data loss that it was stopping them from adopting new technologies, according to Mr Wyatt. He warned that moves to block social media channels could suppress innovation and alienate employees who rely on social media to communicate. If companies were to introduce stricter policies on social networking, 18% of employees said that they would feel demotivated as a result, while 19% said that they would simply work around the rules and 4% would think about leaving!

Ironically, at the same time as restricting staff using social media, companies are looking to increase their social media presence for corporate communications. 31% of UK companies have stated that they are looking to further invest in this area over the coming year. Social media is having a great impact upon everyday life and companies are continuing to embrace it in order to increase their online presence, engage with customers and to build business. Tesco for instance, has over 15,000 followers on their twitter pages and the company’s PR team maintains several Facebook pages for the company, including their main page which has up to 330,000 likes.

Trends on Twitter

Lab42 conducted a survey asking 500 Twitter users how they use the service, who they follow and why. Findings were broken down into a captivating infographic, which has some great insights.

70% of Twitter users access the site on a daily basis with 37% accessing Twitter multiple times a day. Out of the 70% that use the site on a daily basis, 42% tweet more than once a day, nearly double of those 23% who tweet on a daily basis. This portrays the addictive nature of Twitter to tweet on a regular basis and how the majority of users are lured in for the long haul.

Interestingly, only 16% of Twitter users accessed Twitter from their mobile application. I expected that most users would access the site using the web, however I thought that there would be a hell of a lot more users who would take advantage of using the mobile app whilst on the go.

Many Twitter users follow brands with 31% of them at least following 1-5 and unsurprisingly the majority (66%) follow them to try and get discounts. Brands are going out of their way like never before to take advantage of the opportunities presented by social media and entice customers. Offering discounts and the chance to participate in contests via social media, increases traffic to their main sites and in effect their profits. Last year, Sony offered 1,600 Twitter followers the chance to build a customised Sony Vaio laptop and get a 10% discount for the product. Considering that the social media campaign was fairly covert, it worked wonders for Sony as they reported an increase in Sony Vaio sales from Twitter in that period of $1.5 million.

Taking into account that pop star Lady Gaga has more followers than the American president Barrack Obama, perhaps shows that the majority of Twitter users are of a younger generation. This can be backed up with the stats that 27% follow SnOOki, a star from the hit MTV US reality TV series Jersey Shore.