Assessing the Benefits of Social Networks for Organizations

Deliverable 2 of the SEA-SoNS ("Assessing the Benefits of Social Networks on Organizations”) project brings together results from different research activities, both qualitative and quantitative. Together, these results paint a picture of the benefits to organisations of social media, the barriers they face, and the scope for policy action. Phase 2 of SEA-SoNS, which built on the results of Phase 1, included a survey of 600 SMEs in six EU Member States (UK, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria and Latvia), five in-depth interviews conducted with micro firms (less than 10 employees) that use social media in four countries (Spain, Denmark, Netherlands and UK), and a summary of these findings with emphasis on identifying relevant factors for developing future scenarios. This report includes an executive summary and four annexes: the methodological report of the survey, the findings of the survey, the results of the in-depth interviews and a background document for the validation workshop that took place at Seville in July 2013.