Being Facebook friends with your boss could be worth an extra $6,500 per year
April 11th, 2009
photo: laverrue
BBC News’ dot.life blog reports on a study by IBM and MIT entitled the “Value of Social Network”. The study looked at the networks of 7,000 volunteers over three years and tried to give a financial value to these relationships.
Researchers found that having strong connections to managers (yes, sucking up to the boss) can boost the bottom line. On average, it adds up to $548 (£365) in extra revenue a month.
This conclusion is based on data and mathematical formulas that analysed e-mail traffic, address books and buddy lists of 2,600 IBM consultants over the course of a year.
So it would seem that there is a connection between being Facebook “friends” with your boss and your income.
Of course, correlation certainly doesn’t imply causation. Whilst networking is certainly great for your career, equally those in better paid jobs could be more dispensed to spend time networking and to have access to more networks. Something to ponder anyway.
About the Author: Hi! I'm Ken. I've been using mobiles for over 10 years and technology for a lot longer! I'd love to hear from you.
