http://mashable.com/2011/08/09/small-businesses-social-media

This kind of stuff annoys me.

First of all, the number of businesses in the study was reported wrong by Mashable. It’s 304, not 204.

Also, I doubt how scientific this “[STUDY]” really was. Interviewing 304 residential home construction companies from central Missouri will give you much different results than interviewing 304 small businesses in retail and high-tech in Boulder. Before relying too much on the results of this study, I want more info about who they interviewed.

Whenever you see stuff like this, think about the motivation of the author. In this case, the “study” is a marketing tactic for Hiscox’s professional liability insurance products, eMarketer/Mashable is just trying to ruffle some feathers into generating ad revenue.

Don’t fall for headlines!