Time Spent on Social Media for Work is Rising

Accountability Information Management, Inc. (AIM), a leading B2B research company, recently published a new AIM Snapshot research on the how much time professionals spend using social media for business. The study found that overall professionals spend approximately an hour a day on social media, online networks and digital sharing sites for work. And there are still many who do not spend any time for business on these platforms.

During the pandemic, professionals working at home found more time to access social media sites and used the networking platforms to communicate with associates and clients. The AIM research revealed that while social media can be easy to use and offers a variety of benefits, building professionals found that it can also so be time consuming to manage, hard to control and open to overuse or misuse.

Despite the drawbacks, the AIM research showed that building professionals continue to use social media and other online platforms. For example, the AIM research found some building professionals can spend an average of 2 to 3 hours a day online between online networks, social media and digital sharing sites. Furthermore, interior designers and facility professionals seem to be using social media slightly more than architects and engineers.

“As proven by this study, the time spent on social media for work is rising. What’s strikingly clear from our data is that social media is capturing more of building professionals time each day,” says Patty Fleider director of research at AIM. “This research, conducted during the height of COVID-19 (January 2021), shows that while the trajectory of social media was on the rise prior to the pandemic, COVID-19 prompted a higher spike than expected.”

For this study, AIM surveyed architects, interior designers, engineers and facility managers. The survey was conducted on-line in January 2021. Overall response was 153 completed surveys. The full Snapshots report can be downloaded free of charge at https://www.a-i-m.com/snapshots/for-business-how-much-time-do-you-spend-per-day-on-social-media-or-online-networking-digital-sharing-sites/.

This Snapshot is part of an ongoing AIM research library, which can be found at www.a-i-m.com/snapshots along with a variety of other in-depth research reports on the construction marketplace.