Senior executives use social media more frequently than any other more junior members of staff, including ‘Generation Y’, new research has revealed.
A European survey, which involved talking to 2,700 professionals across the UK, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, found that 71% of senior executives use social tools at least once a week compared with only 49% of those in more junior roles.
According to the study undertaken by Millward Brown on behalf of Google, three quarters of the senior executives questioned said that social tools had improved their business by bringing together ideas and thoughts from a geographically dispersed team (79%); increasing productivity (76%); and making it quicker to find information, people and expertise (72%).
Mamta Saha, psychologist and director of training services provider, Think Spa, said: “We may well start to see a filter-down effect, with the more ambitious junior staff recognising their potential as a networking opportunity to interact and impress their senior managers. The tipping point for mass adoption within an organisation may come when those who are not on the network start to feel they are missing out.”
The survey also showed that businesses growing by at least 10% year-on-year were more likely to be using social tools to boost growth.
According to the poll, 81% of professionals in high-growth organisations who were using such offerings said that they had helped their business to expand more quickly.
A further four out of 10 also indicated that they were being employed to improve how their teams collaborated and shared knowledge; to increase productivity (66%); and improve business outcomes such as sales and attracting and retaining clients (59%).
