Many may think that social media is like going for a shower or to the water cooler, you don’t need to be on it for a long time. You just do what you need to do and get off it. However, a study from Retrevo found that social media can be as addictive as taking a puff. Retrevo’s “Gadetology Report”, an ongoing study of people and electronics from the consumers electronics shopping site suggest that social media addiction is getting more and more serious.  The number of people interviewed in this study was 771, distributed across gender, age, income and location in the United States. Since most of them were online shoppers, this study can reflect how social media is been use.

Here are some of the interesting findings in this study:

• Use social media in cars – Over 35 = 9%, under 35 = 40%
• At work – Over 35 = 29%, under 35, 64%
• On vacation – over 35, 41%, under 35, 65%
• On a date – over 35 = 9%, under 35 = 34%
• After sex – over 35 = 9%, under 35 = 36%

So if your organization banned any social media platforms, would you try to use them on your smartphone during work?

The report also suggest that Twitter seem to be the most addictive of all social media platforms. 39% of the respondents under 35 admit that they check Twitter more than 10 times a day compared to 27% of the Facebook users who said they check their account more than 10 times a day. Across all age group, 56% said that they will check their social media account from 1 – 10 times a day.

The biggest enabler for such an addiction seem to be smartphones and mobile applications, especially so if you are under the age of 35. According to the study, only 19% of the respondents 35+ said that they will use smartphones for their social media communications. 81% said that they prefer desktops or laptops when communicating online. On the other side of the generation gap, 46% said that they prefer to use smartphones for all things social media.

This study proof to us that social media will not go away. Instead, the addiction will likely get more and more serious and organizations will have to recognize this and acted proactively by creating guidelines that encouraged appropriate use. Organizations should also plan for training programs so that addicted employees can be turn into brand advocates. In the worse case scenario, you could enroll them to the Social media Addicts Rehab Center.

Banning social media in the workplace will not solve the problem, especially if your business involve social interaction, business intelligence and customer service.

So are you addicted to social media? How many times do you check it a day? Which is the most addictive platform, Facebook or Twitter?

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