Public servants 'spend 8482 hours a year on Twitter': Kiwi study

Wellington, June 27 (ANI): Public servants spend at least 8482 hours a year on Twitter, according to a study by Dominion Post.

This is equivalent of a year's work for four full-time staff.

The annual figure was drawn from a one-month snapshot obtained under the Official Information Act.

The figure was conservative as four out of the 20 departments surveyed could not measure how long workers were logged in to the social networking website, and two could only measure the number of times Twitter was opened.

It could not be found how much Twitter browsing was for legitimate work, including maintaining official Twitter accounts operated by five government agencies.

Employers and employment law experts say both bosses and staff struggle to understand the risks and benefits of germinating social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, reports Stuff.co.nz.

From the departments that allowed Twitter access, most reported monthly use was five to 10 minutes per staffer. However, the Economic Development Ministry's 784 staff spent 585 hours on Twitter in March. (ANI)