Light Reading's 2011 Social Networking Survey

Social networking represents a profound change in the way people connect, communicate and gather information. It is both made possible by and changing the telecommunications industry. And we wanted to learn more about where, how and when people in the telecom space are using third-party Web services to communicate and share personal and professional information.

In the first ever global Light Reading survey of 750 telecom professionals, including over 200 service providers, we learned that communications professionals are waking up to the value in social media -- some are even using it to help find potential customers, with LinkedIn Corp. as the preferred network by a landslide.

Most of our survey respondents' interest maxed out around three networks. They had 10 to choose from, but they only actively used LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. LinkedIn, the professional networking site, was the overwhelming favorite among telecom professionals.

Of course that means some social networks are not so popular. More than 85 percent of survey respondents do not ever use the following social networks: FourSquare, Gowalla, MySpace, Google Orkut, Tagged, Hi5 or Bebo.

It's different in India, though, where 67 percent of respondents are keen on Google's location-based social network, Orkut, using it at least weekly.

Why get social?
Social media is where our personal and professional lives are becoming intertwined. Ask any number of politicians or athetes if you need proof.

While personally gratifying (or indemnifying), social media can also be professionally advantageous. Even when the information a user conveys online is not related to their business, residual good vibes reflect on the company too. Conversely, negativity spewing from an individual account can have the same counterproductive effect.

While social media doesn't represent a huge revenue opportunity for telecom operators, the survey results on the following pages provide a snapshot of how the industry -- inclusive of everyone from C-level execs to engineers to marketers -- is using social media, what sites they prefer and some prevalent attitudes toward the information that comes from such sites.

To check out the full results of the survey, read the full 12-page survey report at the Light Reading global site.

— Sarah Reedy, Senior Reporter, Light Reading Mobile