One in 10 employees are now using Facebook and Twitter to manage professional relationships but 30% of employees feel harassed by the sheer number of messages they receive and are unsure of the best ways to communicate.

According to a report from BT Business, 15% of people aged 18 to 24 use social networking to manage customer relationships - six times the number of over-45s that do likewise.

Bill Murphy, managing director at BT Business, said: "It is great to see business taking up new technology to build profitable relationships but many are missing out on the opportunity to get rid of the clutter and unify their communications."

But psychologist Gladeana McMahon added: "It is important people recognise the difference between communicating virtually and face-to-face. We often read others body language to gauge what people are saying, adapting our response to get a better result. In the virtual world we don't have the same clues to help us modify our behaviour so we must try to identify ‘digital personality types' in other ways to ensure business success."

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