The Hidden Impact of Social Media In The Workplace

Fit pics, rage bait, and other content could affect our motivation, a Rutgers-led study finds

If you like checking social media at work, all that scrolling could have a surprising impact long after you put down the phone.

A Rutgers-led study, published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, finds that perceptions of social media content - how we judge the posts we've seen - could affect how we interact with our co-workers and whether we accomplish our goals for the day.

"We're usually on autopilot when we're scrolling, but we need to be mindful at work," said Rebecca Greenbaum, a Professor of Human Resource Management in the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations and lead author of the study. "Social media can either build us up or tear us down. During the workday, it could affect our motivation."

Greenbaum and her colleagues began with a pilot study to confirm, empirically, that social media has vastly increased the amount of social information we receive at work. "Back in the day, you would hear about Bob's grandkids and that was it," she said.

Next, they analyzed data to drill down on four prevalent themes in social media content: attractive (fit pics, thirst traps, etc.), family (mom's birthday plans, your cousin's baseball game), contentious (politics, rage bait), and accomplished (someone's promotion).

Then, they surveyed 133 workers twice daily, for two weeks, to assess the content's impact. The researchers asked each worker to think about the "most salient" post they had seen that day - what left the biggest mark - along with how they felt and how much they got done at work.

The results? When attractive or family content stood out the most, workers felt more self-assurance and they were more likely to make progress toward their goals. When contentious content stood out the most, workers felt more anxious and they were more likely to withdraw from their colleagues.

"Some content can make you feel good and help you to lean into your work," Greenbaum said. "But if you see something contentious, and you're wondering how it's going to change your conversation with your mom later, or your co-worker posted something political and you really don't agree, maybe you're distracted by your anxiety and you pull away from co-workers today."

The researchers repeated the survey two years later with 141 new participants and one big twist: instead of relying exclusively on self-reported data, they also surveyed the participants' co-workers. Remarkably, the results were largely the same: attractive and family posts tracked with self-assurance and progress, contentious posts tracked with anxiety and withdrawal.

But this time around, an interesting finding emerged regarding accomplished posts.

"We found that trait competitiveness plays a big role in how people react," Greenbaum said. "If you're competitive by nature, seeing other people's accomplishments on social media can fire you up to go out and take on the world. But if you're not competitive, you might pull back."

A 2016 Pew studyestimated that 77% of Americans check social media during the workday, and the number is likely higher today. This is one of the first studies to examine how the content of posts affects employees' motivation and behavior.

Building off the study's findings, Greenbaum offers these tips:

For Workers

• Avoid autopilot. "We so often default to checking social media without giving much thought to whether it's actually a good time to scroll through the news feed. Knowing that the content of social media could affect your motivation, it may be a good idea to stop and think before opening your favorite social media app."
  
• Know yourself. "We all respond differently to what we see. I might feel challenged after learning about my colleague's new promotion, but maybe you'd feel demoralized, and perhaps you can't afford to be in a funk right now. By paying attention to what makes you tick, you can be more thoughtful as to when and how to engage with social media."
  
• Look for alternatives. "Social media exposes us to a wide variety of interesting and entertaining social content, but we can't control what other people post. If you are feeling the itch to connect, sometimes it might be better to opt for a coffee date with a friend or colleague because you probably know what to expect."

For Managers

• Consider limits. "If an important project is looming, it might be a good idea to ask employees to temporarily avoid or minimize their social media use. Leaders can explain that the project requires full mental presence, so it might be too risky to engage with the volatility of social media and its potential to hijack one's attention."
  
• Make it the new smoke break: "Some people have their social apps up and running all day. As an alternative, organizations could designate social media breaks to limit engagement to a few times a day. This could provide a more controlled way to socialize without getting too sucked in to the drama of whatever is going on in your feed."