Social Media Study Shows Users Becoming More Focused

08/27/2009

Most of us don’t need a study to know a lot of news and hype exists surrounding the usage of social media and social networks. But as responsible marketers, we do like data to back up our instincts and common knowledge.

A recent study performed by Universal McCann titled “Power to the People: Social Media Tracker” indicates usage of social networks continues to grow increasingly popular all over the globe. Furthermore, the research firm believes a shift is occurring for the average Internet user participating in social networks. Users are beginning to become more focused, sticking with a single network instead of using several different tools and features. For example, instead of using 3 social networks on a regular basis such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, an individual will focus his/her “digital life” around one of the networks.

One thought provoking finding of this study is the increasing number of US Internet users with a social media profile during the 2008/2009 year. It is estimated over this time, roughly 59 percent of people who access the internet daily or every other day, ages 16-54, declared they had an online networking profile. This equals a 16 percent jump from 2008. In 2006 this figure was as low as 39 percent and in 2007 it had risen only to 40 percent. Previous studies, while they did show a slight increase in this figure, only witnessed gains in the single digits

Another interesting finding from the social media report is just how low the United States ranks in the world when it comes to the percentage of population with a social media profile. In fact, 7 countries ranked higher up on the list than the US, the first of which being Russia with 85.3 percent, followed closely by India and China with 78 and 70 percent respectively. Russia also featured the highest growth trajectory as only 23.1 percent of the country’s Internet users had network profiles as recently as 2006, the first year a poll was taken.

According to the survey, 62.5 percent of the world’s Internet users have a social media page and 71 percent have visited the page of a friend. There was also a “decline of stasis” in using more than one website or service for sharing photos and blogging. For example, Facebook users can share news, photos, videos, links, and more all in one place. The content shared and information on profile pages provides with Internet marketers great opportunity to target users with social media advertising.

The most common social media activities performed in 2009 were: messaging friends at 81.5 percent and uploading photos at 76.3. Other popular activities included adding useful widgets to profiles, finding new and old friends, joining groups, displaying music, making work contacts, and uploading videos. Only about 30 percent of those polled however admitted to using their profiles for blogging purposes. Even though there does seem to be a consolidation of these activities, no one social media site has everything people are looking for, so marketers are advised to give their consumer base choices for interacting with a brand via social media. This gives consumers the ability to share and discuss their preferred online social platform.

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