Senior executives are increasingly using new media, a new study claims.

The study, from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and Centre for Applied Human Resource Research, shows that 51% of directors use online videos to develop new skills, up from 21% a year ago, while 34% also use social networking sites to improve their knowledge, compared with just 12%, last year.  Almost a quarter, (24%) use eBooks and 27% use discussion forums for advice.
 
However, a blended approach of face-to-face activity was favoured by 72% of respondents.

Jo Causon, director, marketing and corporate affairs at the CMI, said: “The fact that individuals are becoming familiar with, and are using, technologies such as mobile video, TV on-demand, multi-player gaming or information services such as Google and Wikipedia suggests that the techno-phobia long associated with resistance to online learning is being eroded.  There are still technical and cultural issues to overcome, but the biggest challenge is whether organisations will seriously examine the powerful tools at their disposal or let their competitors build an advantage through a better trained workforce as comfortable in front of a PC as they are in front of a tutor.”