Britain warned social media scepticism is putting economy at risk
A survey of social media attitudes amongst US and UK professionals aged 20-45 has found that Britons are falling behind their counterparts in the US when it comes to recognising the potential of the medium, potentially harming the country’s position as a creative hub.
Education technology provider Scredibble quizzed 1,000 people on both sides of the Atlantic, finding that scepticism is much more pronounced in the old country where 47 per cent believe there is too much useless content on social media.
In the UK 26 per cent of respondents also thought there was too much spam on social media and 29 per cent claimed not to have enough time to post during the working day. On top of this 19 per cent expressed concern at how their employers might judge what they chose to share.
Colin Lucas-Mudd, chief executive officer at Scredible plc, said: “In the UK, our research shows major barriers preventing businesses benefitting from professionals’ use of social media at work. Many UK workers share concerns over how hard it is to find good content, the time required to sift through spam, and worries their employers’ perception of using social media. As social media rapidly moves into the #1 slot, both as a marketing and support tool, this is a disaster in the making in terms of global competitiveness. Further, as it becomes more important than ever for professionals to fully understand ‘social’ as a learning and development tool, educational opportunities are being lost and career prospects dimmed.
“The UK stands out as a world leader in the creative arts, as well as the knowledge and digital economies. However, the negative perceptions of social media demonstrated by this survey will ultimately put this position at risk.”
Overall 54 per cent of Americans appreciated the importance of social media to their career progression with just 39 per cent of Britons feeling likewise.