Each annual survey findings highlight the continuing growth in social media activity over the previous twelve months.

The research was commissioned by Wolters Kluwer’s CCH business in the UK, part of the world’s largest provider of tax, accountancy and audit information, software, and services. Wolters Kluwer is a leading global information services company.

Just over a third of respondents are now visiting social media sites at least one a day, and a further 27% of accountants visit several times a day (the figure was 20% during 2012).

The popularity of mobile devices continues to rise, with two-thirds now accessing social media via their phone and over 40% using a tablet. Tablet usage has now almost trebled since the first Wolters Kluwer social media survey two years ago.

The Wolters Kluwer findings also reflect the more general trend in society at large, as older accountants who might be considered tech-adverse are beginning to dip their toe in the water. Over 38% of survey participants were over 51 years old.

Perhaps one surprising result is the difference between the genders: there is higher social media usage among the women accountants (85%) who took park in the survey, compared to the men (72%). The male/female split of respondents was 59%/41%.

Commenting on the research findings, CCH Software Managing Director, Simon Crompton, says, “Social media is now an established part of the business landscape. You may not use it extensively in either your private or professional lives – in fact you may not currently use it at all – but a lot of people do, including probably many clients and potential clients of accountants.

"Although a good deal of social media activity is still purely person to person, social media websites are increasingly being used to support commercial activity in both B2C and B2B markets. There is evidence that consumers perceive social media as a more trustworthy source of information than some traditional ways of marketing professional services."

Social media channels

The Wolters Kluwer survey has been able to draw a number of conclusions about the social media landscape.

— LinkedIn: Unsurprisingly in a professional sector, LinkedIn remains the most popular social media tool (it has over thirteen million UK users). LinkedIn has consistently been rated in the survey as the most important social media website for professional use: 67% of social media users report they use it in their business life.

— Twitter usage among accountants appears to be stable. This year, a total of 43% of respondents say they use Twitter, 18% using it in their professional lives. The corresponding figures for 2012 were 37% and 16% and, for 2011 they were 39% and 18%.

— Facebook usage remains low among the Wolters Kluwer 2013 survey respondents. Although over 80% of respondents use Facebook, only 12% of them use it for professional purposes, and only 2% maintain an account solely for this purpose.

— Blogs have the longest history of any of the types of social media in this survey, but they have consistently been the least popular, with 84% of respondents saying that they do not use blogs at all and only 10% using them in their professional life.

— Google+ is showing signs of growth in popularity among accountants, but usage remains low. This year, although 74% still don’t use it at all, numbers are steadily growing, and 14% report that they use Google+ in their professional lives.