Seventy-one per cent of UK workers believe that teaching
social media technologies such as Twitter and blogging in schools
is inappropriate, according to a survey of almost 2,000 adults
conducted by YouGov on behalf of Open Text.
However, 20% of survey respondents agreed that a corporate
Facebook would be better than their existing platform for sharing
information and collaborating on projects at work with customers,
colleagues and partners. Six per cent said they would not take a
job if social media tools were not made available to them.
Craig Hepburn, director of social strategy at Open Text, said,
"While people are happy to use social media applications in the
working environment, they are unhappy about them being taught in
school. However, these tools could well be the future of business,
you only have to look at the growth of business social media site
LinkedIn - which now has over 40 million members - to see the
importance of these applications and the fact they will play a big
part in future generations' personal and professional lives."
Most respondents who saw positives in social media in the
workplace were in the age groups 18-24 and 25-34.
A
recent survey showed that more than half of school children use
Facebook in classes rather than studying.