Opinion: Facebook can’t be costing 233 million hours per month. By Dennis Howlett

There’s a kerfuffle going on about a Peninsula report that claims Facebook costs UK plc 233 million lost hours per month, the equivalent of £130 million per day - a claim that was repeated by media outlets including AccountingWEB and FinanceWeek.co.uk.

Yet no one chose to question the maths. Peninsula’s assertions don’t stand even a cursory screeing. It’s just not possible. Work it out. There are some 3.5 million Facebook users in the UK. To lose that amount of time, each and every one would have to be spending 66 hours per month on Facebook for every month of the year. If that were true then UK plc would be going down the toilet and the stink would be noticeable. I know what I think of Peninsula’s headline-grabbing research.

The Inquirer takes a similar position saying: "Employment law firm Peninsula added up a number and divided by its shoe size and worked out that 233 million hours are lost."

That sounds about right to me. Let’s be clear. Peninsula makes its money scaring firms by pointing out just how much at risk they are from errant employees.

Luis Suarez more considered but equally poignant take: "Why don’t we carry out studies that show and demonstrate the huge amount of losses for every single business out there just because their knowledge workforce did not know who to contact to get the job done faster, much more responsively and with plenty more quality?

"Do we have to remind business how much money they have lost over the course of the years just because one department didn’t know how to reach out to another to help out in a customer situation? How much money and time have businesses wasted on reinventing the wheel at the other side of the world, when that same business implemented a similar solution, but for a different customer?"

Good idea. Get IBM to fund it and I’d certainly be interrested.

In the meantime here’s a thought for those looking to find a new job. How about asking whether the prospective employee uses Peninsula to help with employee management? As a rider, ask about the companies social networking policies. Employers need to recognise that selection plays both ways.

This article is an extract from a post on AccManPro.com.