Social Media & Work/Life Balance Poll

Social media usage has soared not just among the general population but also among at-work Internet users – especially in the medical community, who are heading to the sites for both personal and professional reasons in greater numbers. But is the line of pleasure and productivity becoming too thin?

“The Collaborative Internet” report from Internet security firm FaceTime Communications found increases in the proportion of at-work Web users worldwide logging on to each network studied. LinkedIn was the top site for professional social networking in 2009, followed by Twitter, which was used by more than three-quarters of respondents for work reasons.

The top reasons users gave for using social sites at work were professional networking with colleagues (79%), learning about colleagues (66%), and general research (61%). A comparatively low 37% were logging on to social sites for the more specialized function of marketing to patients.

Social media can create complications when it comes to “friending” colleagues and patients, another issue raised by such sites, which blur boundaries because of their usefulness but potential HIPPA violations both at home and on the job!

Take our poll and tell us what you think www.CWRUmedicine.org

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