This is one of the conclusions found in the 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking study and is based on 2,293 responses from North American business professionals. The figure below, found on pg. 7 of the study (which can be downloaded at http://www.business.com/info/business-social-media-benchmark-study), shows indexed use of social media channels to get the information and resources respondents need to do their day-to-day jobs.

Use of Social Media as a Business Information Resource by Industry | Business.com's 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study

Real Estate agents are some of the most passionate networkers around, and bringing these skills to the online world through social media is a natural extension of their offline behavior. As one respondent put it, social media allows “[me to] stay socially connected with my customers and potential clients.” In addition, social media allow those in real estate and construction to easily learn more about potential clients and customers by finding and reviewing profiles of those individuals on sites like LinkedIn and Facebook.

While those in Law are finding value in the convenience of webinars and podcasts to stay current or learn more about specific legal topics, social media channels are not yet a core resource for the research legal professionals conduct on a day-to-day basis.

To learn more about the use of social media for businessby job role (hint: its not the IT team that’s tapping social media for business information), company size and much more, download your copy of Business.com’s 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study at http://www.business.com/info/business-social-media-benchmark-study.