Small business owners don't mix business with pleasure on Facebook

London, UK – 3 March, 2011: WeCanDo.Biz Limited, the online business network for sales leads and referrals, has released the results of its third annual Business Networking Trends Survey. The full survey results report is available as a free download from www.wecando.biz/surveyresults.php.

The survey confirms that use of business focused social networks such as LinkedIn, Xing and WeCanDo.Biz has increased at a greater rate over the past year than mainstream sites like Facebook for small companies. Although over eighty per cent of respondents use Facebook, only twenty one per cent are happy to mix professional and personal contacts together on Mark Zuckerberg’s website, a marked drop from last year.

There is also a jump in the number of people concerned about the security and integrity of online networking, with more than three quarters expressing some level of concern.

The survey was conducted between November 2010 and February 2011 by WeCanDo.Biz, BusinessZone.co.uk and UK Business Forums. Over 500 mainly UK-based small business owners participated.

"Our research confirms that online networking continues to be a large part of the business landscape. As entrepreneurs face increasing pressures, the strong business-focused communities are the ones they are turning to for support." says Dan Martin, editor, BusinessZone.co.uk, one of the websites whose users contributed to the survey.

The survey shows networking continues to pay a key part in making small businesses successful. Consistent with the findings of previous surveys from WeCanDo.Biz, entrepreneurs are most interested in using online networking sites to get more business and over half report that they have invoiced business as a direct result of networking online. But an increasing number of small business owners are now also using social networks to find out what their markets and customers are thinking and monitoring what their competitors are up to, with two thirds saying networking online has brought them closer to their target audiences.

"As the Social Web matures, so has the way business owners are using it," says Ian Hendry, CEO of WeCanDo.Biz and author of the report. "Increasing sales is still a driver but a rising number are going online for market intelligence, reputation management and competitor analysis. It’s being seen as a valuable business tool rather than just a place to hang out and have fun."

In other key findings, the study reveals that almost all plan to maintain or increase their current networking levels, with nearly ninety per cent saying they would recommend to their closest business contacts that they also network online.

The full report can be downloaded from the WeCanDo.Biz website at http://www.wecando.biz/surveyresults.php.

About WeCanDo.BIZ
WeCanDo.Biz is an online new business network for sales leads and referrals. Using social networking methods to broker valuable new business relationships, it provides simple tools to members which help generate sales leads, leverage customer referrals and win new business. The web-based service is available to all businesses at www.wecando.biz.

About BusinessZone.co.uk
Published by Sift Media, an online B2B and public sector publisher founded in 1996, BusinessZone.co.uk is a leading community for entrepreneurs providing free, practical and no-nonsense advice on how to start and grow a successful business. For more information, visit www.businesszone.co.uk.

About UK Business Forums
Also published by Sift Media, UK Business Forums is the UK’s most active online forums for small business owners. The website has over 97,000 registered members and receives more than 60,000 user contributions a month. For more information, visit www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk