This kind of seems like it should be filed under "Duh," but out of respect for those who would disagree, we'll call it news: Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites tend to reduce business productivity, according to a survey of business users.

While social networks and collaboration technologies are often touted as a means of boosting productivity, workers are easily distracted by them, and the lost productivity costs companies millions of dollars annually, reports Nathan Eddy at eWeek. The survey was conducted by United Sample, an online market research company, and harmon.ie., which sells social email software.

Only 55 percent of employees work more than 15 minutes at a stretch without getting interrupted, and nearly 60 percent of those interruptions are caused by social media, email, messaging or toggling between tools and applications. If an employee wastes an hour a day on distractions, it costs $10,375 a year in productivity (based on an average wage of $30/hour). If a company has 1000 employees, that adds up to more than $10 million annually.

For more:
- see Nathan Eddy's article at eWeek

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