The Scotsman reports that research by Glasgow Caledonian University and IT firm NSDesign found a quarter of the firms that use Twitter don't find the website useful and 35% of those with blogs say they don't give returns.

Their findings will be presented at the opening of the Edinburgh International Technology Festival at Our Dynamic Earth.

Gary Ennis, founder and managing director of Glasgow-based NSDesign, told The Scotsman: "It seems crazy that 40 per cent of small firms keep using Facebook even though they don't find it useful. You wouldn't do that in any other area of your business.

"I think a lot of them say 'Let's do Facebook because everyone else is doing Facebook' - it's the latest fad and maybe some of them are seduced into doing it by their public relations and marketing advisers."

Ennis, added that Facebook - and other forms of social media - wouldn't suit every business but that they could be very powerful tools for some companies.

While he was impressed that 80% of business said they had a clearly-stated objective for using social media, Ennis expressed concern that only 65% were bothering to measure their returns.

The next step for the research is to interview respondents and calculate the financial benefits - or otherwise - of using social media websites.

Source: www.thedrum.co.uk

What do we think? The lack of return on social media is due to companies not making proper use of social networks. Setting up a company Facebook page is not enough, businesses need to use the page to engage with consumers. Whether it is status updates or tagging images, relevant interaction with consumers will help an organisation connect with their community. With over 15 million users logging in to Facebook every day in the UK, businesses would be crazy not to try to engage on this readily available marketing platform. Our verdict- companies need to make an 'investment' in Facebook to reap its returns!