Research by Easynet and Ipanema Technologies suggest that businesses doing this risk alienating customers, creating ineffective strategies, demotivating staff, as well as losing the competitive edge social media offers when doing business.
"It’s a risky business to block social media networks and I’m genuinely shocked at the statistic showing how many companies do this," says Lisa Myers, CEO of SEO & Social Media agency Verve Search. "The Return on Investment for social media is that your business will still be here in five years’ time. Half the human race is under 30, and has never known a world without the Internet. For these people the Internet, and social media along with it, is a way of life. Businesses need to embrace power of social media, and use it to improve their staff retention and their customer experience, not fight against it."
The study shows that 67% of European businesses block Facebook, 60% block YouTube, 49% block Twitter and 56% block all online video.
Justin Fielder CTO of Easynet says that social media is a useful to create and retain dialogue with customers.
"Social media is oxygen to anyone under 30 and it’s vital for communication, education and information," says Fielder. "It has huge implications on business success. Business leaders – usually Generation X – have to understand this or they will find the future of their business in jeopardy."
The increasing dominance of Business social networking sites shows that social media is becoming an important part of doing business.
"Microsoft’s recent purchase of business social networking site Yammer demonstrates the importance of social networking in the workplace, but it seems that European CIOs have some catching up to do," says Thierry Grenot, Executive Vice President at Ipanema Technologies. "He continued: "Many of the anticipated challenges caused by employee usage of social media such as its impact on the corporate network have been solved, so it’s time for CIOs to look again at their policies in this area."
Please follow this author on Twitter @Tineka_S or comment below.
