Survey: Adoption of Social Media at Work by Generations

Gen-Y doesn't have the lock on using social networks at work. According to a survey commissioned by Citrix Online, Gen X workers make up the majority of those who use social networking for business, followed closely by Boomers aged 55 and older, while Gen Y's use of collaborative technology lagged the others. Among the findings by Forrester Consulting, which conducted the survey of 797 "information workers" (anyone who uses a computer for work) evenly split between the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Australia:

• Gen Y is least likely to share information via text message (26%, compared to 47% of those aged 55 and older), and least likely to use video conferencing, video chat and web conferencing tools
• Gen Y is least likely to think meetings are efficient, with only 29% of Gen Y workers thinking meetings used to decide on a course of action are very efficient, compared to 45% of Older Boomers
• 79% of those aged 55 and over think it's important to have in-person meetings, compared to 65% of Gen Y

Source: Citrix Online Press Release (October 19, 2010)