Social Networking Increases Employee Productivity

It’s “official”, Facebook is useful!! Approximately 1 year ago, I stumbled across a study that researched the productivity levels of employees that were given access to social networks. Placing one group of employees from a “cubical farm” in one room with access to social networks, while another group was placed in a similar room without access to social networks – the results were rather perplexing. Turns out, the “facebookers” and “twitters” were more productive by leaps and bounds to the group without access to social networks. If anyone knows where the study is housed, please leave it in the comments below!

Many theories were thrown about as to why productivity rose exponentially, and in my opinion, it pertains to individuals needing to “reset” every now and again. Staring at a screen all day, focusing on a set number of tasks, both drains you and kicks your focus out of whack. Slowly, the employee drifts off to a never never land where the only productivity resulting is from tasks that don’t require cerebal input. Eventually, the employee falls into a drone like state, slowly slogging away until the clock strikes happy hour.

Yesterday morning, ADN.es, a local Spanish daily newspaper, reported that Facebook and Twitter users are more productive than non-users. Not only that, but they were also using this newfound energy to build brands, increase innovation and creativity, encourage team building, and network within their discipline, which all lead to better communication and output.

I’d lke to say, “I told you so”, but I’m sympathetic that people are skeptical. It’s an abstract and complex idea to get across to a company that is rigid in controlling their message to the last punctuation point. We still routinely visit wineries where we need to ask for permission to access their wifi network in order to spread the good word online about their juice, only to find that while they can get me a password, their network admin has blocked twitter, facebook or other similar sites.

It will change, over time, but I have hope!

Ryan Opaz