A newly-released Pew Research Center study has found that social media has played at least some role in the lives of many American workers in the workplace.
Here are some highlights of the study’s findings:
34 percent of those polled use social media on the job to take a “mental break” from work 27 percent use social media to connect with friends and family while at work 17 percent use social media to learn about someone with whom they work 19 percent use Facebook for work-related purposes, 14 percent use LinkedIn, and three percent use Twitter 78 percent of workers who use social media for work-related purposes say that social media is useful for networking or finding new job opportunities 71 percent say that social media is useful for staying in touch with those in their field 51 percent say that social media helps with getting to know coworkers better 46 percent say social media is useful for finding information that can be used for work
Unsurprisingly, those who do not have workplace rules on social media use are more likely to use social media for recreational reasons at work. For example, 30 percent of those who had a policy against using social media at work said they used it to take a mental break from work, as opposed to 40 percent of those who didn’t have such policies at work.
Regardless of workplace policy, employees are very likely to use social media for certain purposes. These include making professional or personal contacts, learning more about someone they work with, strengthening personal relationships with coworkers, and asking others work-related questions.
The Pew study, which examined the habits of 2,003 American adults, was conducted in late 2014.
