Compass Intelligence finds that social networks have a potential for business applications, but these are not yet being leveraged.  Most activities on social networking sites are personal or non-productive.  For instance, the top activities on FaceBook are making and staying connected with friends. Among the popular networking sites, LinkedIn is the most business oriented.  Top activities on LinkedIn include making professional connections, staying in touch with colleagues, and joining professional groups on the site.  While LinkedIn has more of a professional bent, with most users spending less than 30 minutes a week on the site, it can not be considered a business critical tool. Thus while the popularity of social networking continues to expand, business users are not yet truly working the social network. 

• Of the 10,000+ working American’s surveyed in late November 2008, nearly 60% said they were active on a social networking site. 
•  The most popular site, according to research, is FaceBook, with nearly 35% of respondents being registered members of this site.
• Social networking sites are not currently being leveraged for business proposes, with most activities centering on personal relationships.

To view details on the full report and survey data: http://is.gd/hrUr 

Written and Prepared by Amy Cravens, Contributing Analyst

http://www.compassintelligence.com