Business value of social media sites over-hyped
18 Oct 2010
Many companies have started questioning the actual productivity gains associated with social networking sites.
Over the last few years there has been much talk of Facebook, Bebo and other social networking websites and a number of businesses in the UK have been clamouring to gain exposure to these massive markets.
Around 52 per cent of those replying to a recent Forum of Private Business survey said the likes of Facebook and Twitter were either "not useful" or "useless" to their businesses.
The situation now is, whereas billions upon billions have been spent on social networking websites, in a bid to leverage their advertising potential, a growing number of businesses are realising that such websites may offer a very low, if any, return on investment for businesses. Social networking site access at the workplace also remains problematic with recent surveys showing that thousands upon thousands of working hours have been lost because of social networking activity during working hours.
According to analysts, the value of companies such as Facebook is perceived to be in the billions of pounds with other leading social networking websites also similarly highly valued. The question being asked is if benefits to business are actually less than many people perceive, does this hurt the estimated value of leading social networking websites?
Meanwhile, according to Evan Williams, a Twitter co-founder who recently stepped down as CEO, the microblogging site, with about 165 million members is expected to hit 1 billion users. Williams did not however, say when the company would hit the lofty milestone.
