When Social Networks Cross Boundaries - A Case Study of Workplace Use of Facebook and LinkedIn - Abstract

Sep 24, 2026

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A study examines how professionals use social networking software within a large, technologically savvy organization, focusing on attitudes and behaviors gathered through a broad survey and thirty focused interviews. Findings describe extensive social and work uses, with patterns varying by the specific software system and the user’s age. The research identifies tensions when use crosses social groups and conflicts with the organization’s firewall, while also noting that weak-tie support dominates despite benefits that can be hard to measure.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Research questions and motivation

Study approach

Key findings: uses and patterns

Organizational tensions and firewall

When Social Networks Cross Boundaries: A Case Study of Workplace Use of Facebook and LinkedIn Meredith M. Skeels Biomedical & Health Informatics, University of Washington Seattle, WA, USA [mskeels@u.washington.edu](mskeels@u.washington.edu) Jonathan Grudin Microsoft Research Redmond, WA, USA [jgrudin@microsoft.com](jgrudin@microsoft.com) ABSTRACT The use of social networking software by professionals is increasing dramatically. How it is used, whether it enhances or reduces productivity, and how enterprise-friendly design and use might evolve are open questions. We examine attitudes and behaviors in a large, technologically-savvy organization through abroad survey and thirty focused interviews. We find extensive social and work uses, with complex patterns that differ with software system and networker age. Tensions arise when use spans social groups and the organization’s firewall. Although use is predominantly to support weak ties whose contribution to productivity can be difficult to prove, we anticipate rapid uptake of social networking technology by organizations. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.5.3 . Group and Organization Interfaces. General Terms Human Factors, Design Keywords Social networking, Facebook, LinkedIn, enterprise. INTRODUCTION The use of social networking sites (SNS), which arrived commercially about a decade ago, has rapidly gained momentum. By late 2008, MySpace and Facebook each had 60 million U.S. users and accounted for 6%-8% of all time spent online [17] . As is often true of digital communication technologies, students are enthusiastic adopters. Whether or not it enhances academic achievement, it is of value to students, for whom social networking can vie with studying as their primary occupation. Enterprise acceptance of a new technology often lags student use. As discussed in [13], in the 1990s some researchers still argued that organizations would discover that email reduced productivity and remove it. Ten years later, industry analysts made similar arguments about instant messaging—IM was a way students wasted time and should be avoided by organizations. Now email is mission-critical and some managers and executives use IM. In the past two years, SNS has established a significant presence in enterprises. Facebook, initially restricted to universities, opened Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. GROUP’09, May 10–13, 2009, Sanibel Island, Florida, USA. Copyright 2009 ACM 978-1-60558-500-0/09/05 ...$5 .00. to corporate use. One-third of the employees in the enterprise we studied were in the Facebook company network. We found an equal number of employees with LinkedIn accounts. Professionaloriented LinkedIn had quadrupled in size to over 25 million members in one year [12] . What if anything are all these professional users doing with social networking software? Enterprise adoption of social networking software is far easier, and preventing it more difficult, than was true for earlier technologies. This raises questions. Do these sites enhance productivity? Can utility for enterprises be increased? What new issues will arise for these new user populations? In early 2008, we conducted this research in Microsoft, then an organization of 88,000 . Although not a typical enterprise, it is typical of the early adopters of email and IM that foreshadowed subsequent wider use. We briefly review social networking software history and research, and then describe our study. BACKGROUND AND RELATED WORK Social Networking Sites Social interaction was present in early terminal-based computers, as we

FAQs

What does the study examine about workplace social networking?

It examines professionals’ attitudes and behaviors in using social networking software at work, including whether use enhances or reduces productivity and how enterprise-friendly design and use may evolve.

How was the research conducted?

The study used a broad survey and thirty focused interviews inside a large, technologically savvy organization.

What tensions arise from workplace use of social networking sites?

Tensions emerge when social networking use spans social groups and intersects with the organization’s firewall.

Sep 24, 2026

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