Engineers aren't using social networking for work

SAN FRANCISCO -- More than a decade into the social networking era, engineers are broadly engaged with these platforms but are highly protective of their privacy and very reluctant to use them to make their jobs easier and more productive, according to a new EE Times survey.

We circulated a 21-question poll earlier this summer and received more than 800 responses from readers. Virtually all engineers are aware of social networking sites and platforms and fully 70 percent use them.

But, significantly, nearly a third don't use social networks at all, largely because they feel such use is a "waste of time" or not relevant to their life and work.



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Most popular sites

Of those engineers who do engage with social networking, 85 percent use LinkedIn and 60 percent use Facebook. Site preference falls off dramatically after that:

• YouTube (34 percent)
• Twitter (26 percent)
• Google Plus (25 percent) 
• Flickr (9 percent). 

Nearly 70 percent have various levels of privacy settings that limit what people may view on their profile pages.

More than a third of respondents (35 percent) view social networking sites at least once day, but hardcore users (more than two hours a day) make up only 3 percent of overall usage.

We found that only one in four users are not allowed to access social networking tools at work.

Use for engineering? Hardly

Perhaps the most eye-opening results concerned how engineers use social networking tools and platforms. Seventy-one percent of respondents never use social networking to request or share business information, and 81 percent never use the technology to collaboratively solve technical problems or find new products and suppliers.

More than half (56 percent) use social networking to network with colleagues but the rest never use it for that purpose.



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Next: Big disconnect