Checking Your Facebook Status Could be Costing Companies 28 Billion Dollars A Year

If you are spending part of the workday on Facebook and your company is having financial trouble, it could be your fault! Not really, but tech blogger Michael Fitzgerald recently calculated the time American workers spend on social networking sites is costing US companies $28 billion in productivity lost every year. Fitzgerald used information that is publically available to make his calculations. Fitzgerald says the average American worker spends roughly seven minutes per day on Facebook. Assuming he has internet access, which 30 percent of the nearly 160 million US workers do, couple that with an average US salary at $50,000 per year, Fitzgerald did some quick calculating to come up with that $28 billion sum. What is interesting, the value of Facebook is only around $50-$65 billion.

 Fitzgerald is quick to point out that companies should not panic and immediately block Facebook access, this was just a fun exercise and people's usage patterns vary dramatically. Oh look...I just got a like....sweet!!