Canadian Executives Still Don't Know How They Feel About Social Media, Study Reveals

Even though Facebook has been around since 2004, LinkedIn since 2003, and Twitter since 2006, business executives in Canada are still divided on what to do with social media, a new survey by Queen's School of Business in Kingston reveals.

24% of Canadian execs still believe that social media adds no value to their business, according to the survey. And 40% use it because they feel they need to but don't know why. Indeed, only 35% actually use it because they are convinced it is a good opportunity for their business.

One thing's for certain though: employers are worried about the reputation of their company being reflected by employees' personal accounts. 91% of Canadian execs agree that employees must be mindful that, even when using personal social network accounts on personal time, they still represent the company.

Some bosses want to take this to an extreme. 22% feel that the social media activity of employees outside of work hours should be monitored, and 34% feel that what their employees do on their own time is the company's business.

“What happens on Twitter doesn’t just stay on Twitter,” said Kate Rowbotham, Professor of Human Resource Management, Queen’s School of Business. “People may feel that their participation in social media is personal but the boss doesn’t necessarily agree that your opinions are just your own. We have seen a number of examples of overexposure on social channels by individuals that has had a negative impact on the overall organization.”