Now here is an interesting study. Ever wondered how other businesses are using social media?

Business.com just released the results of a survey they conducted online from 8/11/09 to 9/4/09, asking 3,000 unique respondents from the US and Canada a number of questions regarding their use of social media as part of their normal work routine.

• Webinars and podcasts are top social media resources for business professionals, used by 69% of those who turn to social media channels for business information.

• Facebook is the dominant social network on which consumer-focused companies maintain one or more profiles, cited by 83% of respondents versus 45% for Twitter. Business-to-business (B2B) companies, however, maintain a presence on both platforms with 77% maintaining a profile on Facebook and 73% on Twitter.

• Current trends to restrict access to social networks like Facebook or Twitter at work need to be re-thought in light of the business value in such activity.

• Among respondents using social media for business purposes in their day-to-day jobs, 62% visit company or brand profiles on social networking sites and 55% search for business information on these sites.

• Consultants and marketing communications professionals are the most active users of social media as a resource for business information, particularly in micro (<10 employees) and small businesses (10-99 employees). IT professionals have the lowest participation rate.

• Both companies and employees are scaling a massive learning curve with social media.

• The average company in this study was planning, developing or running seven different social media initiatives; 65% of respondents staffing those initiatives, and 71% of companies themselves, have less than two years of experience with social media for business.

• Building brand awareness and brand reputation are two of the top social media success metrics, but nearly two-thirds of companies focused on these metrics have little to no insight into performance via standard or easily accessible reports.

A copy of the complete study can be downloaded from: http://www.business.com/info/business-social-media-benchmark-study.