Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are costing UK businesses over £1.38 billion ($2.25 billion) per year in lost productivity, research from IT services company Morse stated Monday.
From the 1,460 office workers surveyed, over half (57 percent) said that they used social networking sites during the working day for personal use. On average those people were spending 40 minutes on these sites each week, Morse said.
The time wasted could be even higher as the research also revealed that on average office workers think that their colleagues spend nearly an hour (59 minutes) each day at work on social networking sites.
"The popularity of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook has grown considerably over the last couple of years, however with it has come the temptation to visit such sites during office hours," commented Philip Wicks, consultant at Morse. "When it comes to an office environment, the use of these sites is clearly becoming a productivity black hole."
When it comes to usage policies, it is clear many businesses have some way to go, as 76 percent of those surveyed said that their employer hadn’t issued them with specific guidelines with regards to using Twitter.