In a survey of IT and finance professionals, email has been rated as the best way to receive business information.
Across all the different generations that entered the survey, 88% preferred email, whereas social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook were marked as being of low importance by respondents.
Collated by business automation provider, V1, the survey set out to explore how different generations working in IT and finance prefer to be sent information.
While all generations were united in saying Facebook and Twitter were their two least preferred methods of business communication, it was the more senior generation who were the most vociferous in their social media stance.
Twitter of least importance
Older employees rated Twitter as the least important, with 56% giving it the lowest possible scored. Facebook was scored in a similar fashion by 55% of the same generation. Generation Y were no different, ranking Facebook as the least popular channel, with 53% giving it a low score.
Social media may not be hitting email’s heights, but Catherine Murphy, head of marketing at V1, says to spare a thought for paper that was once the communication method of choice for many office workers.
“Not surprisingly, the research sample confirms that paper is in decline,” Murphy said. “Just 20 years ago it was an office essential, yet in less than two decades it has been overtaken by email.”
Paper’s usage is set to decline even further. The youngest employees taking part in V1’s survey are those that are most likely to give paper a low rating, that’s 33% for Generation X and 31% for Generation Y.