The vast majority of computer users feel social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook can be used for business purposes and one in 10 (11%) already uses them for that end.
According to a survey by email research specialists emedia, 87% believe such sites can be used as a means of doing business with networking (65%), exchanging ideas (58%), getting advice (44%), recruitment (43%), research (35%) and selling (31%) the main possibilities.
The research showed that 81% of those surveyed use networking sites. The top five websites respondents have heard off are MySpace (89%), YouTube (88%), Friends Reunited (81%), Facebook (73%) and Bebo (51%). But the most popular sites among users were Friends Reunited (47%), YouTube (42%), MySpace (39%), Facebook (26%) and LinkedIn (19%).
Users of social networking sites visit these sites on a regular basis and almost half of them (48%) admit using these websites at work. Nearly one in four (24%) users logs in every day, with half of them logging in several times a day. Up to 45% of users log in at least once a week.
But there are also concerns about the security and reliability of personal data held on such sites, with nearly two-thirds (62%) saying they were worried about the safety of information.
It also revealed that nearly one in three (31%) users had already entered false information about themselves to protect their identity, which should also be of concern to someone thinking of approaching people using such sites for business reasons.
Half of users found advertising on social networking sites intrusive. Interestingly, 72% of users opted out of email newsletters from these sites and up to 93% opted out of email newsletters from selected third parties.
