Web 2.0 Technologies Snubbed for Business Use

Published 8th September 2008

Organisations overlook business value of video and social networking sites

UK employees are turning their noses up at Web 2.0 technologies for business communication, according to a survey of 1,000 office workers commissioned by network integration specialist Telindus. Despite nearly 79 million YouTube users making over 3 billion video views in January 2008, 92 per cent of UK office workers said they would only log on to YouTube for personal use. Podcasts are equally underused in the corporate environment, with just five per cent saying they would listen in on a business debate.

Analysts have predicted that more than half of companies in Europe and North America will see Web 2.0 as a priority for 2009, spending almost £2.5billion on social networking tools by 2013.* However, it appears that there is a significant step to be made before Web 2.0 technologies lie at the heart of the enterprise and are accepted by organisations as valuable business tools.

The research revealed that, although more than a fifth of people use instant messaging applications to communicate in the workplace, only seven per cent use YouTube and six per cent use social networking sites as business tools. Podcasts were the least popular, with just five per cent of votes, despite recent figures released by Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR) highlighting how podcast downloads in the UK have increased from 4.3 million to 6 million since November 2007.*

Younger office workers, aged between 18 and 24 years old, are the most zealous consumers of YouTube and social networking sites for personal use, with 58 and 78 per cent respectively, but even this Web 2.0 savvy generation are not fully embracing the benefits of these collaborative communication tools in the enterprise. Just four percent use YouTube and a mere one per cent use social networking sites for business.

Mark Hutchinson, managing director of Telindus comments: “By ignoring Web 2.0’s potential as a business tool, many organisations are in danger of missing out on one of the biggest communication and marketing channels currently available.

“As long as employees use collaborative applications such as social networking sites, blogs and wikis responsibly, businesses can benefit from new and engaging ways of interacting with their staff, customers and suppliers as well as prospective employees and customers. Many media organisations have already grasped onto this fact, engaging their audiences with richer audio-visual and interactive content.

“With Web 2.0 now commonplace in the lives of the next generation of managers, business use of Web 2.0 will no doubt surge in the future, but organisations need to ensure that they have the right technology in place to support it. Transporting multimedia content can put a massive strain on a business’ network, and bandwidth must be managed appropriately to avoid offices grinding to a halt and ensure that organisations reap the rewards of Web 2.0.”