PRs probably spend more time than most managing emails and looking for information online. Now a McKinsey Global Institute study has tried to quantify just how much time this all consumes. “The average interaction worker spends an estimated 28 percent of the workweek managing e-mail and nearly 20 percent looking for internal information or tracking down colleagues who can help with specific tasks.” A further 14 percent of time is taken up by ‘communicating and collaborating internally’ leaving less than 40% of the workweek for ‘role specific tasks’. As the title of the report suggests - The social ecomnomy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies - McKinsey conclude that the integration of social media practices in a corporate environment offers productivity gains.
However, since the report was published a counter argument to the productivity potential of social media has been raised by the Australian Olympic swimmer Emily Seebohm. She claimed that her fixation with Twitter and Facebook damaged her performance in the swimming.
