UK businesses resist social networking

The UK remains stubborn in the adoption of social networking in business while numbers across the Atlantic soar.

Research from consultancy firm Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law has shown that 81 per cent of American respondents thought business relationships between customer and client could be improved by using social networking. The same number thought such tools were useful for building a brand.

However, one of the authors of the research, chief executive of Russell Herder Carol Russell, told IT PRO the UK wasn't as enthusiastic.

She said: "Adoption of social media continues to be embraced in the US, as our data reflects. A study done a year ago... found just 18 per cent of UK executives see blogging and social networking as valuable less than any other country reviewed."

But in some areas the UK and US are on the same page.

In Russell's research, eight out of 10 respondents admitted to having concerns about social networking, with 51 per cent seeing it as possibly detrimental to employee productivity and 49 per cent worrying it could damage the company's reputation.

Although the UK shares these concerns, unlike the US it isn't pushing through them to make use of social networking. Russell told IT PRO that in the UK there is a lack of commitment to social networking from senior management and they are resisting "jumping on the bandwagon" because of it.

She said: "Although social networking may not to be as common a strategy among UK businesses, to be competitive they will need to begin adopting these opportunities to a greater degree particularly when you note the growth our research reflects in how corporate America is utilising such."

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