ibrowse: Social media stress

Nestlé, purveyor of the decades-old KitKat snack, has launched an app it says addresses a growing problem among young social media users -- giving them a break from the stress of posting updates by doing it for them. The software, Social Break, automatically sends random updates to users' Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. It will be officially launched in Singapore later this week and is free to download from kitkat.com.sg/socialbreak.

While the application is a tongue-in-cheek marketing gimmick, the developers behind the software, ad agency JWT, say it also highlights a serious problem among younger users, especially in Asia: growing stress about time spent maintaining a presence on social networks. JWT surveyed 900 19- to 26-year-olds in China, Singapore and the United States and found that more than half considered it too time-consuming to keep up with all their social media commitments and conceded that the time they spent on such sites had a negative impact on their job or studies. JWT says the survey shows young people feel under increasing pressure to maintain their social media connections.

"Social media used to be fun. It shouldn't be an obligation, it shouldn't be another life we have to maintain," says Valerie Cheng, of JWT's Singapore, which was hired by Nestlé to develop the app.

A survey published by consultants McKinsey last month found that China has by far the world's most active social media population, with 91 percent of respondents saying they visited a social media site in the previous six months, compared with 30 percent in Japan and 67 percent in the United States.

-- Reuters