Social networking by small businesses on the up

More than nine in 10 SMEs and small businesses are actively using social media for business purposes, a big increase on 60% from last year, according to new research by global recruiters PeoplePerHour.com.

The survey of 1,300 small businesses indicated that a huge majority of the 4.5m small businesses in the UK are making use of social media to recruit, find work and market themselves online.

The findings add weight to the results of a report commissioned by Deloitte, which claimed social networking adds more than £2 billion to the UK economy per year.

Three major players of the social media world, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter were named as the most popular sites amongst small businesses, with Facebook leading the way as the most used.

PeoplePerHour.com CEO Xenios Thrasyvoulou claimed that the results show that Facebook is not just a personal networking tool, “That couldn’t be further from the truth. As our survey findings demonstrate, Facebook is an increasingly crucial technology for businesses as well.