Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) is a drain on the U.S. economy.
No, we’re not talking about Facebook’s IPO fiasco earlier this year and the subsequent stock price meltdown. It’s bigger than that.
Facebook is worst offender among the many Internet distractions keeping workers from getting things done in the office.
Most workers stop what they are doing several times an hour to respond to messages from friends and co-workers on social media like Facebook and Twitter, browse the Internet, and check and respond to e-mail.
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And once distracted, it takes time for a worker to get back to the task at hand – one study put the average disruption at 23 minutes.
All those interruptions add up to a massive expense for businesses and the U.S. economy.
Facebook Costs Us Billions
A study in 2005 by Basex Inc. estimated that Internet distractions to “knowledge workers” (managers, professionals and office staff) added up to over two hours per day and cost the U.S. economy$588 billion.
Using the Basex formula, Money Morning has calculated that Internet distractions will bleed a stunning $785 billion from the U.S. economy in 2012 – nearly 5% of the $15.8 trillion gross domestic prouct (GDP).
Noted the Basex report.
“Whether sitting at a desk in the office, in a conference room, in one’s home office, or at a client’s, the likelihood of being able to complete a task (what many call “work’) without interruption is near nil.”
Last year research firm uSamp conducted a survey on work distractions for social email software maker harmon.ie that found 45% of IT employees couldn’t even work for 15 minutes without getting interrupted by something.
Assuming an average IT salary of $30 an hour and just one hour of time wasted each day, uSamp calculated a loss of $10,375 to the employer in lost productivity.
Facebook the Biggest Culprit
Another survey, conducted this year by Salary.com, showed just how deep the problem of wasted time on the job runs in the American workplace. Their survey revealed the following:
- 64% or nearly two-thirds visit non-work related websites every day while at work.
- 29% admitted spending 1-2 hours a week on personal websites.
- 21% admitted to wasting 2-5 hours each week.
As for what workers are doing on the Internet the survey revealed:
- 41% said they were going on Facebook.
- 37% said they visited LinkedIn.
- 49% or nearly half used work time to hunt for another job.
These online activities of American workers while at work can cost companies more than lost time.
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Other popular Internet distractions included:
- Google+ (28%)
- Amazon (25%)
- CNN (20%)
- YouTube (13%)
Many companies try to curb Internet distractions by blocking sites like Facebook and Twitter, but with limited success. People just use their smartphones instead.
Tudor Aw, KPMG’s European head of Technology, told Salary.com.
“Executives may be naïve in thinking that banned access to social networks eliminates employee use. Indeed, the survey shows that by restricting or blocking access, many employees tend to move their activity to their own personal devices which are often less secure and completely unmonitored.”
In some of the surveys, employees said spending work time on Internet distractions provided much needed breaks that made them overall better workers. Maybe so, but any time spent on Facebook on the job is time that no work is getting accomplished.
Yaacov Cohen, co-founder and CEO of harmon.ie, said of the survey he commissioned.
“Information technology that was designed at least in part to save time is actually doing precisely the opposite. For all of us, it’s time to take back the Internet and find ways to control our digital addiction.”
COMMENTARY:
How Employers Feel About Social Networks
According to the following infographic, researched and developed by PayScale, the higher-ups are really not too keen on the social media movement at large, especially when it involves giving social media freedom to employees within the company. And the fear of negative information keeps employers running for a tight leash. Only half of companies have a formal social media policy, and 42% of companies surveyed nix all forms of social media activity at work. In the employers’ eyes, social media should be exclusively reserved for carefully managed brand promotion and professionally handled social recruiting.
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Mobile Devices Driving Social Networking In The Workplace
According to Facebook's Q3 2012 earnings report, the social network now has 1.007 billion monthly active users, of which 604 million or 60% use mobile devices to access the site.
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So even though over 40% of employers surveyed by Scale block or prohibit Facebook while at work, the adoption of mobile devices to access the internet and social networks, has done little to stop social networking while at work. In fact, if you look at the following graph, the number of minutes spent on social networks each month exploded from 27 billion minutes in June 2008 to over 70 billion minutes by the end of June 2011. With the phenomenal growth in mobile devices, it would not be surprising if the number of minutes has doubled by the end of October 2012.
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By mid-May 2012, Facebook had reached 901 million active users, but the number of time spent on the social giant stood at 393 minutes per year. This is more than twice the other major social networks combined.
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Courtesy of an article dated November 9, 2012 appearing in Market Daily News and an article date June 10, 2012 appearing in Mashable
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