A new Survey confirms over three quarters of UK businesses already use Web 2.0 as alternative to email and information sharing. The survey looked at drivers and barriers for adoption of web 2.0 technologies in organisations. It showed that nearly half (46%) of respondents believe there will be a steady increase in the use of Web 2.0 in their organisations over the next 12 months and over 81% are already using it as an alternative to conventional email and for sharing information in the business environment.
The Survey was conducted among 315 respondents in June by Mesmo Consultancy, a leading email training training and consultancy company in partnership with Inbox/Outbox, the UK’s leading forum for e-marketing and collaborative communications. It investigated the adoption in business of social networking and collaborative tools -generally referred to as Web 2.0 technologies – among IT, marketing and business professionals. Over two thirds of respondents were at management level aged 36-55, over half were female, and both generation X and Y were represented with a quarter aged under 25-35.
The survey showed that within business 47% of respondents use LinkedIn and also voted it the most useful site to them from a business perspective. Facebook was cited as being least useful for business but conversely on an individual basis Facebook was seen to be useful in raising the individuals profile. It came a close second to Linkedin with Twitter and YouTube in almost joint equal third position. While, over two thirds of all respondents said they did not use social networks at work over three quarters (77.9%) said they used Facebook at home, two thirds YouTube (61%), 41% LinkedIn and 29% Twitter. My Space and others attracted only 11% or less of respondents.