So…. Does Social Media (like Facebook) Have an Effect on Workplace Productivity?

Nucleus Research released a study in July 2009 entitled "Facebook: Measuring the Cost to Business of Social Networking," which found that "companies effectively lose an average of 1.5 percent of total office productivity when employees can access Facebook during the work day."
In summarizing its findings, Nucleus said: "Although for specific users this may drive greater productivity, companies should carefully weigh the total business benefit of lead generation and qualification or responding to comments on social networking sites about their operations or products against the potential broader productivity loss of all employees with access to those sites."

The survey's findings appear questionable in several respects. First, how did Nucleus arrive at the figure of 1.5% productivity loss through employee use of Facebook? Nucleus said it interviewed 237 randomly selected office workers about their use of Facebook and found that:

"The average employee who accesses Facebook at work uses it for 15 minutes each day, with a low of one minute and a high of 120 minutes per day - so it's not surprising that more than a few respondents identified with the term 'social notworking.' Given that 61 percent of employees access Facebook at work, companies can reasonably estimate a cost of 1.5 percent of total employee productivity."

This methodology is vague and does not seem to reliably answer the question of how much, or even whether, productivity was lost. The specific calculation used to attain the 1.5% figure is not given, and Nucleus simply asserts that companies can "reasonably estimate" a loss of 1.5% productivity. Nucleus seems to have simply counted employees' minutes on Facebook, deducted that number from an overall workday total, and assumed that any time spent on Facebook yielded lost productivity.

However, Nucleus does not seem to take into account the possibility that employees might make up any lost time at work or home, or that no overall productivity was lost. As Kevin Tampone wrote in an article entitled "Web surfing at work becoming more prominent" in CNY Business Journal on October 7, 2005, "In some studies employees actually suggest that Web surfing at work makes them more productive by providing an easy way to escape the pressures of the day." Studies cited below reinforce this view.

Likewise, as Michael Masnick wrote on July 13, 2009, on techdirt.com:

"For years we've pointed out how silly it is for companies to use filters and other tools to try (and fail) to block 'personal surfing' at work. It's based on the faulty notion that every second you're at work should be focused on work. But offices provide water coolers for a reason, and people take breaks for a reason."

Indeed, in places I have worked, employees typically take breaks to chat, read news, attend to personal matters, pay bills, call home, arrange for babysitters, make appointments, drink coffee and tea, have holiday luncheons and parties, etc. Sometimes hours, half days, or whole days are taken off for emergencies, appointments, or critical matters that arise. These employees still complete their work assignments, and some exceed expectations. Thus, time spent on Facebook does not necessarily translate into lost productivity.

On the seemingly insubstantial 1.5% productivity loss that Nucleus found, Der Meister commented on hothardware.com, "lol 1.5%!!! What is that? Like an extra trip to the bathroom?"

Another questionable finding of the Nucleus Research survey is that social media has no real business value because the employees it purportedly surveyed could not identify business uses. Said Nucleus: "Although industry pundits may tout Web 2.0 and social networking as the next big thing, when asked to actually identify business uses for Facebook, Nucleus found that few employees could point to a true business reason."

Nucleus seems to present its survey subjects' ignorance of social media's business uses as proof that business uses do not exist. However, there is plenty of evidence from other research firms of social media's business value-including recent studies from Aberdeen Group, Forrester Research, Association of National Advertisers, Deloitte LLP, and others that show that companies are reaping benefits and increasing investment in social media marketing initiatives.

Moreover, a large number of social media case studies have been collected and made available, including Peter Kim's list (http://www.beingpeterkim.com), which contains more than 1,000 marketing examples, Monty C. M. Metzger 's "300 Case Histories of Social Media" (http://www.scribd.com), and Robin Broitmin's Social Media Case Studies Superlist (http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com).

It would be reasonable to assume that, as researchers, Nucleus Research's analysts might be aware of the multitude of research studies and case histories, and that in analyzing social media use in business, Nucleus itself would be compiling its own list.

However, as Amy Vernon noted in her report on hothardware.com, "Nucleus seems to be rather down on Facebook, as well as Twitter and other social networking tools."

That Nucleus Research seems to have a social media bashing agenda is seen in the dismissive manner in which it frames social media, including lines such as "it's not surprising that more than a few respondents identified with the term 'social notworking.' "

Moreover, as is typically seen in this type of negative survey, Nucleus Research's bottom-line recommendation is that companies should consider blocking access to employees. Says Nucleus:

"Companies should evaluate their Facebook policy and the cost to the organization in allowing access to Facebook, as today blocking Facebook may actually result in a 1.5 percent gain in productivity."

Nucleus on its Web site says "Our clients include many of the Fortune 1000, numerous mid-sized organizations, state, federal, and international government organizations, and almost every leading technology vendor."

It would be interesting to know whether any of Nucleus's technology vendor clients sponsored its social media productivity survey.


William S. Dickinson is a marketing professional who works for Momentum Conferencing with offices in Vancouver BC and Toronto, ON. You can find Momentum Conferencing on the web @ www.momentumconferencing.com.