Abstract
The present study was conducted to identify the usage level of online social networking websites (SNSs) of employees, to identify the means of using SNSs by employees for personal and professional development, and to identify measures required to facilitate effective use of SNSs for personal and professional development. An online questionnaire survey was conducted with the participation of 74 employees. Employees visit SNSs from the office (98.9%), home (59.5%) and other places (21.6%). The majority (>60.8%) visits SNSs during office hours. Facebook (98.6%) and Hi5 (39.2%) were the most preferred SNSs. The majority (56.5%) visited SNSs daily while 43% spent over 60 min. on SNSs daily. Connecting with peers (47.6%), colleagues at previously employed places (35.7%), and external professionals (26%) were the main professional uses of SNSs. Making and maintaining the connections with college and university friends, and friends with personal interests (78%) and sharing contents (60%) were the common personal uses. SNSs are used to engage in collective activities, while 98% are using SNSs to mitigate work stress. Approximately 76% of employees are expecting to intensify SNSs use. Fifty eight percent of employees had experienced adverse effects of high SNSs use on their office works. Personal use of SNSs is relatively higher than the professional use. Organizations need strategies to raise the awareness of effective SNSs uses among employees. Continuous researches are essential to develop evidence based policies and regulations to ensure the effective use of new media, such as SNSs for constructive personal, organizational and social outcomes, minimizing possible drawbacks. <br /><br /><strong>Key words:</strong> Employees; Personal; Professional; Social networking. <br /><br />DOI: 10.4038/tar.v22i1.2674<br /><br /><em>Tropical Agricultural Research </em>Vol. 22 (1): 94-106 (2010)
Highlights
The online social networking sites (SNSs) have become increasingly popular over the past few years
The major functional areas of the respondent employees at the work places were general management (19.0%), sales and marketing (19.0%), administration (14.3%), production (14.3%), human resource management (9.5%), customer care (9.5%) and academic/teaching (9.5%)
Others were included to the categories such as coordinators (13.5%), academic professionals (9.5%), and researchers (5.4%)
Summary
The online social networking sites (SNSs) have become increasingly popular over the past few years. Facebook, which is claimed to have over 400 million active users, had opened half a million new profiles in a day during the period of September 15th to November 6th, 2009 (Parr, 2009).These indicate the rapid growth of SNSs among internet users. Boyd and Ellison (2007), define social networking sites based on three criteria as; “SNSs are the web based services that enable users to; (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by, others within the system”. The uses and potentials of SNSs are far beyond its basic function of keeping connected
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