Of all active US internet households, 75% visited a social networking site in May 2010, according to Nielsen. About a fifth of US adults online publishes or owns a blog, and 55% have at least one or more social networking profiles. 20% of those surveyed frequently provide advice about movies; 18% share their opinions about TV shows and 16% often advise others about music, according to Nielsen.
US consumers are spending more time online and devoting a growing percentage of those hours to social networking sites, a trend expected to create a surge in spending on advertising to this audience. US internet users spent an average of more than 6 hours a month on sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter during May 2010, according to Nielsen.
Nielsen found that users did not restrict themselves to checking their status while at home: the average US worker spent almost 5.5 hours each month visiting social network sites from the office.
(HOTELMARKETING.COM, June 2010)
Facebook, which stirred consumer privacy worries in spring 2010 with its rollout of new opt-out initiatives, has not experienced an exodus of users, leaving many industry watchdogs wondering whether web users really do care about online security.
According to a May 2010 study by privacy researcher the Ponemon Institute sponsored by identity theft prevention service ProtectMyID.com, more than three-quarters of US social media users have at least some concern about their privacy and security while using social media, including 28% who say their concerns are serious.
About a quarter of social media users are worried about identity theft on the sites, according to the study, compared with 54% who thought their information might be stolen while banking online and 42% while shopping online. When asked about the consequences they attribute to their own use of nonsecure social sites, the greatest number of respondents cited an increase in the frequency of online ads they see. That topped the number of people who had had secrets revealed or downloaded viruses, and outpaced by far the number who had had their identity stolen.
While three-quarters of social media users said their security was either important or very important to them, almost half admitted they used social sites that they didn't trust. Further, only 35% said they chose high security settings for their social media profiles. And many were still willing to share large amounts of information that, in combination, could potentially be identifying. Even users who had experienced identity theft in the past did not differ significantly in their practices from the typical social media user.
With just 39% of social media users confident that social networks will protect their privacy, marketers must be careful to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Research suggests users will continue to flock to sites like Facebook and offer them access to large amounts of personal data but will attribute unwanted ads to possible security issues.
(eMarketer, Jun 2010)
Visitors to Facebook and Twitter spend more money on the Web than other internet users, according to comScore. On average, Web users purchased less than $50 worth of goods online in Q1 2010. On Facebook, the visitors who spend the most time on the site also spend the most dollars on online shopping, with an average of $67 in spending for the top 20% of visitors.
Average online spending among US internet users, by time spent on Facebook and Twitter, Q1 2010:
- Heavy: $67 (Facebook) / $63 (Twitter)
- Medium: $61 / $75
- Light: $50 / $73
- Non-visitor: $27 / $43
Notably, internet users who did not visit Facebook at all bought significantly less online than average, spending only $27 during the quarter. Not only are retailers on Facebook targeting above-average spenders, but the audience missing from the site is also worth much less in revenues.
On Twitter, higher spending did not correlate with increased usage, but site users did spend more than average, and more than most visitors to Facebook.
With older users driving much of the growth in social network in the past year, the sites are no longer home to teenagers and young adults with lower disposable incomes. Instead, users tend to be savvy and frequent users of the Web overall, making them more likely to be online buyers as well. (eMarketer, June 2010)
Social media is developing a reputation for being valuable not just for customer interaction and brand awareness but also for lead generation. In February 2010, for example, inbound online marketing platform HubSpot found Twitter usage could double monthly leads, and Onesource reported in January that business-to-business salespeople were looking to LinkedIn for prospecting.
According to virtual events provider Unisfair, social media is the top emerging channel for lead gen among technology marketers surveyed in May 2010.
Emerging channels for lead generation in 2010, according to US technology marketers (% of respondents):
- Social media: 74%
- Virtual events: 39%
- Mobile channels: 34%
- Other: 10%
Lead generation was marketers' first priority, with 66% saying it was their greatest concern for 2010, compared with just 17% who chose brand awareness.
When online marketing firm R2integrated surveyed US marketing professionals in April 2010 about why they had a social media strategy, the No.1 response was to increase lead generation.
Main reason for implementing a social media strategy according to US marketing professionals, April 2010 (% of respondents):
- To increase lead generation: 61%
- Monitor the conversation about my brand: 27%
- My competitors are doing it: 5%
- Directive from management: 3%
- I do not know why we have one: 4%
Unqualified leads are a major problem, with a third of Unisfair respondents saying they normally rejected 16% to 30% of their leads as unqualified.
The most important types of information for determining whether a lead is valuable include interest and demographic information-which might make social media an even more useful prospecting channel, since profiles can include exactly the type of data salespeople are looking for. In addition, social media can provide a venue for nurturing leads that are not yet ready to buy. (eMarketer, June 2010)
33% of active Twitter users share opinions about companies or products at least once a week, while 32% make recommendations and 30% ask for them, according to an April 2010 study by ROI Research commissioned by Performics.
Marketers using social media have tried to foster this type of earned media and other brand interactions, but a comparison of the study results with previous research, from October 2009, shows little change in consumers' brand-oriented behaviour.
On Twitter, significant percentages of users who had connected with a brand would recommend, discuss or purchase from the company, but those numbers inched slightly downward over six months.
Behaviour of US Twitter users since connecting with companies/products on Twitter, October 2009 & April 2010 (% of respondents):
- Recommend the company or product: 55% (October 2009) / 53% (April 2010)
- Talk about the company or product: 55% / 52%
- Purchase the brand/company's products: 51% / 48%
- Link to an advertisement for the company or product: 46% / 46%
- Attend a promotional or sponsored event: 43% (April 2010)
On Facebook, users had similarly static opinions on the usefulness of social media to connect with brands. A healthy percentage were interested, but the practice did not become more important between October 2009 and April 2010.
Attitudes of US Facebook users toward Facebook, October 2009 & April 2010 (% of respondents):
- I think Facebook is a good way to get information about companies and products: 40% (October 2009) / 41% (April 2010)
- I am more likely to follow or become a fan of a company/brand if my friends are fans/followers: 32% (April 2010)
- I am interested in having more companies/products available to communicate and interact with through Facebook: 31% / 31%
- Connecting with companies/products on Facebook makes me feel like a valued customer: 28% / 30%
- I enjoy interacting with companies and products through Facebook: 26%/ 29%
(eMarketer, June 2010)
Growth in US traffic to Facebook is far outpacing that of Twitter, according to data from Nielsen. The measurement firm estimates unique visits to Facebook grew by 69% between March 2009 and March 2010 compared with growth of 45% to Twitter during the same period.
It's essential to note, however, that a large portion of Twitter traffic does not come via its Web site, but rather through third-party applications such as TweetDeck. As a result, the data does not necessarily give a precise portrayal of its growth in relation to its rivals in the space.
Meanwhile, visits to MySpace continued to contract during the 12-month period, with its loss of audience increasing in speed compared with 2009 vs. 2008 numbers. Business-focused network LinkedIn and Classmates Online also experienced contractions in unique users during that period.
Globally, Nielsen estimates the audience for social networking grew by around 16.5%, year-over-year, reaching a total of 313 million users in March 2010. (ClickZ, May 2010)
Usage of social networking sites rose sharply in 2009, thanks to the ever-increasing popularity of Facebook. 57.5% of US internet users (or 127 million people) will use a social network at least once a month in 2010, according to eMarketer.
By 2014, nearly two-thirds of all internet users (or 164.9 million people) will be regular users of social networks.
US social network users, 2008-2014:
- 2008: 84.5 million (41.6% of internet users)
- 2009: 109.2 million (51.6%)
- 2010: 127.0 million (57.5%)
- 2011: 140.2 million (61.2%)
- 2012: 150.4 million (63.5%)
- 2013: 157.9 million (64.7%)
- 2014: 164.9 million (65.8%)
Last year, the social network audience widened sharply beyond the base of teens and young adults who popularized the activity. This year, 59.2% of adult internet users will visit social networks monthly, up from 52.4% in 2009.
In 2010, 60% of internet users ages 35 to 44 and half of those in the 45-to-54 age group will use social networks at least once a month. Women, especially mothers, are still driving much of the growth.
By 2014, these changes will become more pronounced. More than half (56.8%) of 55-to-64-year-old internet users will visit social networks regularly that year, up from 34.3% in 2009. Even seniors 65 and up, only 14.1% of whom used social networks in 2009, will get in on the act, reaching 37.9% penetration in 2014. (eMarketer, May 2010)
Consumers both praise and criticize retailers on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs. It is the negative comments that test retailers' ability to manage customer relationships in a dynamic, always-on and fragmented environment.
Social media amplifies the voice of disgruntled customers and makes it easy for others to jump on the bandwagon if they can relate to the pain, according to eMarketer. The potential for negative to buzz to escalate into mass criticism puts pressure on retailers to react quickly.
A cornerstone of retailers' approach is cultivating customer advocates. That means finding support in the retailer's fan base, and according to Dynamic Logic and Millward Brown, retailers are the industry most likely to be followed by US social network users.
Types of brands followed by US social network users who follow companies/brands on social netwrokfs, Q3 2009 (% of respondents):
- Retail: 71%
- CPG: 48%
- Technology: 45%
- Sports: 39%
- Restaurants: 33%
- Travel: 27%
- Banks/finance: 23%
- Quick service restaurants: 20%
- Auto: 18%
(eMarketer, May 2010)
African-Americans make up nearly a quarter of the US Twitter population, twice their share of the total population of the country, according to Edison Research's "Twitter Usage in America: 2010" survey.
eMarketer estimates non-Hispanic African-Americans make up just 11% of US internet users. Hispanics were also over-represented on Twitter, at 17% versus 13.4% of the US internet population. In contrast, whites make up more than 69% of internet users but about half of Twitter users.
US Twitter users, by race/ethnicity, February 2010 (% of respondents):
- White: 51%
- African-American: 24%
- Hispanic: 17%
- Asian: 3%
- Other: 5%
The report said that high usage in the African-American community could be related to the mobile nature of Twitter. While many users update their status with a PC, mobile devices are a major conduit of microblog posts, and research shows that African-Americans and Hispanics are both more likely than whites to sue the mobile Web, especially among younger users.
Edison also found that Twitter users were significantly more likely than members of other social networks to friend or follow brands.
Overall, the "Twitter Usage in America" survey found there were 17 million users of the microblogging service in February 2010. eMarketer forecasts Twitter usage based on December of each year, making this figure most comparable to eMarketer's estimate of 18 million users in December 2009.
eMarketer projects 26 million US internet users will be on the site by the end of 2010.
Edison's figure is based on Twitter penetration of 7% of the total population. Awareness of the service is much higher, however, at 87%. That means Twitter has gained the mindshare of Facebook in just a short time (as usage and media coverage skyrocketed in 2009) but that awareness has generally not translated to uptake. (eMarketer, May 2010)
Twitter usage exploded in 2009. US site traffic, which is only a partial barometer of how many people used the service, grew from a few million unique monthly visitors in early 2009 to over 20 million by June 2009. Traffic has since reached a plateau, but other usage metrics continue to show high levels of engagement in early 2010.
There will be 26 million US adult Twitter users in 2010, up 44.4% over last year. By 2012 nearly a fifth of Web users, or 36 million people, will be on Twitter, according to eMarketer.
US adult Twitter users, 2009-2012:
- 2009: 18 million (10.5% of adult internet users) / + 198.7% change
- 2010: 26 million (14.6%) / +44.4%
- 2011: 32 million (17.3%) / +23.1%
-2012: 36 million (18.8%) / +12.5%
These figures include adult users who access Twitter at least monthly via any platform-the Web, mobile devices or third-party apps and widgets.
At its first developers' conference in April 2010, Twitter reported it had nearly 106 million registered accounts worldwide, with just under 40% coming from inside the US. Those figures translated to 39.1 million US accounts. Twitter's inclusion of users of all ages and registered users who no longer participate, along with those who have more than one account, means that the total number of US accounts should be higher than the number of adult users, making eMarketer's estimate of 26 million users in 2010 consistent with company figures.
Unique visits to Twitter.com have generally plateaued after a dramatic climb in early 2009, according to Compete, comScore and Nielsen. While slowing growth in traffic led some to believe the service was being abandoned, research shows Twitter is sticky and longtime users are the most vocal participants. (eMarketer, April 2010)
Visitors from Facebook.com are more loyal to news and media websites than are visitors from News.Google.com, according to Hitwise. In particular, among the top 5 print media websites in the week ending March 6, 2010, 78% of Facebook.com users were returning visitors compared to 67% from Google News. The figures are almost identical for broadcast media, with a 77% returning rate for Facebook.com compared to 64% for Google News.
81% of visits to CNN.com in the week to March 6, 2010 were returning visitors while 84% of visitors to CNN.com that came from Facebook.com were returning visitors and 72% from Google News were returning visitors.
In most cases, Google.com is the #1 source of traffic to these sites. Interestingly, visitors from Google are less likely to be returning visitors than average for either Google News or Facebook. This reinforces the long term value to news and media organisations of working with the likes of Google News and Facebook. With recent Pew Research showing that newspapers have seen ad revenue fall 26% during the year and 43% over the past three years, understanding where to find loyal readers is becoming increasingly important. (Hitwise North America Newsletter - March 2010, March 2010)
Facebook reached an important milestone for the week ending March 13, 2010 and surpassed Google in the US to become the most visited website for the week.
Facebook.com recently reached the #1 ranking on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day as well as the weekend of March 6 and 7th. The market share of visits to Facebook.com increased 185% for the w/e 13/03/10 as compared to the same week in 2009, while visits to Google.com increased 9% during the same time frame. Together Facebook.com and Google.com accounted for 14% of all US Internet visits during the w/e 13/03/2010. (Hitwise United Kingdom Newsletter - March 2010, March 2010)
It may seem extreme, but users who can't resist checking Facebook and Twitter in the middle of the night are not alone. 48% of social media users log in to the sites either during the night or as soon as they wake up, according to the March 2010 "Gadgetology Report" from consumer electronics site Retrevo.
Users under 25 were more likely to check or update their social network status after bedtime, with nearly a fifth saying they did so anytime they woke up during the night.
Almost as many younger users (18%) checked the sites in the morning before getting out of bed, while 17% of respondents of all ages turned to Facebook and Twitter before TV in the morning. iPhone users were notably more likely than average to do each of these activities, with 23% saying it was how they got their morning news compared with 16% of all social media users. Overall, only a minority of respondents claimed they would have no problem going a "long time" without checking Facebook.
Earlier surveys, from both Retrevo and Crowd Science, indicated users were checking out social sites from some surprising locations, including while driving, in the restroom or on a date.
According to the 2010 poll, one-half of users under 25 did not mind electronic interruptions to meals, one-quarter were OK with messages in the bathroom and 11% were up for communications during intimate moments. (eMarketer, March 2010)
Social media marketing relies on sophisticated forms of word-of-mouth, a medium highly trusted by most consumers. But even social media users prefer face-to-face communication to give and receive information about products and services.
In-person communication was social media users' top impetus to start an online search for a specific item, according to a survey conducted by BIGresearch for the Retail Advertising & Marketing Association (RAMA). Social media users were even more influenced by face-to-face word-of-mouth than average adults.
Factors that influence US social media users vs. Average adults to start an online search for a specific product/service, December 2009 (% of respondents):
- Face-to-face communication: 41.4% (social media users) / 36.1% (average adults)
- Cable TV: 38.9% / 32.8%
- Radio: 31.3% / 27.4%
- Internet advertising: 28.3% / 23.1%
- Email advertising: 26.7% / 23.4%
- Online communities (MySpace/Facebook): 22.6% / 14.6%
- Blogs: 12.3% / 8.4%
- Instant messaging: 9.5% / 6.6%
- Mobile phone: 8.2% / 5.6%
- Text messaging: 6.7% / 4.5%
- Picture/video phone: 5.1% / 3.4%
The power of traditional word-of-mouth held across all age groups except that 18- to 34-year-olds were more likely to search online because of something they had seen on cable television, which was a smaller force among older users.
Online communities such as MySpace and Facebook influenced less than a quarter of social media users to search for a product or service. Men were marginally more likely than women to report such an influence; age had a larger effect. Among the 18-to-34 group, nearly three in 10 searched because of social networks, compared with less than 20% of 35- to 54-year-olds and 15.3% of those 55 and older.
Social media users are particularly attractive to marketers because they are more likely to both look for and give purchase advice than the general population.
RAMA found that, just as when they are getting information, social media users prefer giving information face-to-face. More than 71% communicated about a service, product or brand in person after an online search, compared with only 21.6% who spread the word via sites such as MySpace or Facebook. Not all digital communication was shunned, however; about one-half used e-mail to tell others what they had found. (eMarketer, March 2010)
With reports of young people abandoning e-mail to communicate via social networks, Facebook developing its own full-featured Webmail system and predictions that in a few years even business users will have exchanged traditional e-mail for social sites, it would appear that the success of social networks was hurting e-mail usage.
Time spent with personal e-mail as of fall 2009 was even with the prior year, according to data from Merkle. Nearly ¾ of respondents spent at least 20 minutes a week e-mailing friends and family.
Merkle also found that social network users check their inboxes more frequently than those who shun social sites.
Merkle noted several reasons for the increased e-mail usage among social users, including demographics and that social site notifications are often sent to traditional inboxes. Those inboxes, in most cases, are the same ones marketers are trying to reach. A strong majority of social network users surveyed (63%) said they used the same e-mail address for their social activities as they gave for permission e-mail marketing campaigns. As networked users check on their updates avidly, they are also putting themselves in the reach of e-mail marketers. (eMarketer, February 2010)
While Q3 2009 data showed e-mail on top for content sharing, February 2010 information from social optimization platform Gigya points to Facebook as the Web's top social sharing hub.
Almost half of article links, videos, photos and other content shared via Gigya's widgets are posted to Facebook, with another 29% broadcast through tweets.
Social media sites used by US internet users to share online content via the Gigya widget, February 2010 (% of total):
- Facebook: 44%
- Twitter: 29%
- Yahoo!: 18%
- MySpace: 9%
Social sharing widget AddThis also distributed the most content on Facebook (33%), followed by a long tail of other options. Similar results were posted in summer 2009 by the AddToAny sharing widget; Facebook, with 24% of shares, took the top spot.
In addition to sharing content with contacts, social site logins are often chosen as a method of user authentication on third-party sites. Facebook was No. 1 for this purpose as well, but usage was dependent on content type, indicating that Facebook users may be most concerned with sharing fun, entertaining content on the network. (eMarketer, February 2010)
Most wealthy internet users in the US are optimistic about the economy going forward, according to Ipsos Mendelsohn, and their online spending has historically been higher than average. But most US affluent internet users use social networking sites to hear about their friends and family and reconnect with old friends, not to connect with brands. Just 7% logged on to look for offers or research purchases, while 6% went social to share or buy products or look for coupons.
Reasons that US affluent consumers use social networking sites, January 2010 (% of respondents):
- Hear what friend and family are doing: 55%
- Reconnect with old friends and classmates: 53%
- Share news with friends and family: 47%
- Fun: 40%
- Share photos: 39%
- Express myself: 19%
- Professional networking: 18%
- Get news: 16%
- Be part of communities: 14%
- Hear feedback on my posts: 14%
- Share articles and ideas: 13%
- Learn new things: 13%
- To make new friends: 11%
- Promote myself/my work: 11%
- Look for exclusive offers: 7%
- Research purchases: 7%
- Look for coupons: 6%
- Share products and/or to buy stuff: 6%
- Enter contests: 6%
- Follow celebrities: 5%
- Other: 7%
According to Unity, affluents have a different relationship with brands on social networks: They like to check out fan pages but do not necessarily want to take the step of friending brands. The majority of affluent social networkers have viewed brand pages, but only a quarter have become a follower or joined a group. (eMarketer, March 2010)
11.1% of all US mobile phone users accessed a social networking site via mobile browser in January 2010, an increase of 4.6% points from the previous year. Much of this growth has been driven by smartphone owners, 30.8% of whom accessed social networking sites on their mobile browsers, up more than 8% points on the year. By comparison, just 6.8% of feature phone users accessed social networking sites on their mobile phones.
US Mobile browser access to social networking (3-month average ending January 2010):
- All mobile phones: 11.1% (+4.6% points compared to January 2009)
- Smarphone: 30.8% (+8.3%)
- Feature phone: 6.8% (+2.3%)
Access of leading social networking sites via mobile browser continues to see significant growth. In January 2010, 25.1 million mobile users accessed Facebook via their mobile browser, up 112% from the previous year. Twitter, which has experienced tremendous growth in both mobile and PC-based visitation, attracted 4.7 million mobile users in January, up 347% versus year ago. These figures do not include access of the social networking services by the nearly 6 million mobile phone owners who do so exclusively through mobile applications.
Number of mobile subscribers accessing Facebook, MySpace and Twitter via mobile browser (3-month average ending January 2010):
- Facebook.com: 25,137,000 (+112% compared to January 2009)
- MySpace.com: 11,439,000 (-7%)
- Twitter.com: 4,700,000 (+347%)
(comScore, March 2010)
US unique monthly visitors to Facebook grew 96.5% between January 2009 and January 2010, with over half the US online population visiting in January 2010, according to data from comScore.
By contrast, visits to MySpace dipped 23.5% in that period, with 27.7% of users accessing the site during the month of January. That represents a loss of almost a quarter of its unique audience over the past 12 months.
Twitter's Web site grew its traffic by over 800% in the same period, but started from a much smaller base. In addition, comScore only tracks traffic to the Twitter.com Web site, and excludes activity on the network via third-party applications such as TweetDeck, which are believed to account for a large portion of its use.
US visitors to social networking sites, January 2010:
TOTAL INTERNET: 208,940,000 unique visitors (+8.9% compared to January 2009)
- Facebook.com: 112,442,000 (+96.5%
- MySpace.com: 57,828,000 (-23.5%)
- Twitter.com: 21,785,000 (+836.6%
(ClickZ, February 2010)
Facebook has moved ahead of Yahoo in January 2010 in the pecking order of internet traffic giants, according to data by Compete. Eleven months after losing first place to Google (147.8 million unique visitors), Yahoo (132 million unique visitors) has ceded second place to Facebook and its 133.6 million unique visitors.
Facebook has made a quick rise to 2nd place. One year ago, Facebook had less than 70 million unique visitors, while Yahoo had roughly the same number it holds now, according to Compete.
Compete also found that Facebook gets the first position when it comes to user engagement. In January 2010, 11.6% of time spent on the entire Web centered on Facebook, while Yahoo was at 4.25% and Google at 4.1%. A year ago, Yahoo was the categorical leader at more than 5%, while Facebook trailed slightly and Google received generally the same stat line it does today.
Nielsen's time spent data favours Facebook even more. Users of the social site averaged 7 hours in January 2010 compared to 2 hours-and-29 minutes for Yahoo and 2 hours-and-five minutes for Google.
Meanwhile, both Nielsen and comScore haven't been as quick to anoint Facebook as it pertains to unique visitors. ComScore reports that Facebook accrued only 112.4 million unique visitors in January, with both Google (174.2 million) and Yahoo (164 million) beating that number. Nielsen's January unique visitors data are very similar when it comes to these three particular companies: Google (162.5 million), Yahoo (138.9 million), and Facebook (116.3 million).
One reason why the research firms' figures can differ noticeably is the way they calculate their totals. In one example, comScore and Nielsen include some "roll-up" properties/different domains like Flickr in its tallies for Yahoo, while Compete, on the other hand, treats them separately. (ClickZ, February 2010)
In the few short years that social media has been a marketing vehicle, it has already had an enormous effect on the way companies do business. In the coming years there will be even more changes, as social media marketing extends from the marketing department to nearly every aspect of a company's business.
In the Insight Brief "The Future of Social Media Marketing," eMarketer outlines several trends to watch in the coming years.
- Advertising, which some might say has already failed as a business model for social media companies, will not be the primary revenue driver. Instead, the strongest business models in the future will incorporate analytics, as social media becomes truly integrated into all marketing efforts.
- TV will become more social, as will search.
- Location will become more important to social media.
- Brand monitoring will increase in sophistication so that companies can begin to understand the "why" of consumer chatter as well as the who, what and when.
- Naturally occurring conversations will be utilized in product innovation and design, and companies will create incentives for people's attention and engagement while repurposing and analyzing content and engagement in new ways that will deliver valuable input.
What will not change is the source of social media transformation today: the users. The voice of the consumer is only going to get louder and stronger, according to eMarketer. It will shape what social media is and what it will become. Not too long ago, a company might have made major changes to its products or services based on a few focus groups, some financial planning and a degree of gut instinct. Social media has already changed all that. And more changes will come. (eMarketer, February 2010)
69% of US online shoppers regularly use social media sites, according to the "2010 Social Media Report" from ForeSee Results. The overwhelming winner in terms of shopper presence was Facebook, with more than half of respondents using it regularly. YouTube took the second spot, with former giant MySpace far behind its rival. Only about 1 in 10 online shoppers surveyed used Twitter.
Social media sites used regularly by US online shoppers, December 2009 (% of respondents):
- Facebook: 56%
- YouTube: 22%
- MySpace: 15%
- Twitter: 11%
- LinkedIn: 8%
- Flickr: 5%
- Yelp: 2%
- Other social Website: 2%
- I do not use social sites: 31%
More than half of online shoppers who use social media choose to engage with brands on the sites by friending or following them. While some social site users interacted with a large number of brands, most were fans of only a few. Social network users actively want to engage, but their time and attention is limited.
Number of brands/retailers that US online shoppers interact with on social media sites, December 2009 (% of respondents):
- 1-5: 61%
- 6-10: 21%
- 11-20: 10%
- 20+: 8%
The report also confirmed earlier research that the top reasons for interacting with brands on social sites were to get a good deal and learn about products, with nearly half of brand followers selecting each goal. Only a few were interested in customer support. (eMarketer, February 2010)
Almost 6 out of 10 (59%) of active travellers have visited a social networking site, according to the nationally representative survey by travelhorizons of just over 2,200 US adults that was conducted in October 2009.
Their most popular activities while on these sites include uploading photos/videos (49%) and rating products or services (46%). Roughly a quarter have visited a chat room and/or posted content to a blog. Nearly half (46%) check new postings to their site(s) at least once a day.
Facebook enjoys the highest incidence of visitation (almost half of active travellers have visited, and a third have posted a personal page), while roughly a quarter of active travellers have visited MySpace. Both percentages are up significantly from just one year ago. And when it comes to searching social sites for content, the incidence of visiting YouTube eclipses that of TripAdvisor by a wide margin.
But to what extent does the content found on these sites influence consumer choice when it comes to the evaluation and selection of travel service suppliers? Right now, not much, because site visitation for travel planning purposes remains quite low. By way of illustration, only 1 in 10 Facebook users seeks advice about either destinations or travel service suppliers, and just 1 in 20 has joined a community of users who share common travel interests:
- 11% ask advice about a destination
- 8% ask advice about a travel supplier
- 6% learn about travel deals
- 5% get updates on destinations and travel suppliers
- 5% have joined a community with like travel interests
How quickly this may change is a matter of considerable speculation given the remarkable rate of penetration these sites have achieved in such a short period of time. Yet, for now, consumers continue to seek and respond to information about travel services and suppliers from more established offline and online media sources. (eTN eTurboNews Global Travel Industry News, January 2010)
47% of US online boomers maintain a profile on at least one social network, according to several sources.
Their contacts include family, friends and co-workers of all ages:
- Burst Media reported that 47.5% of online boomer respondents had a social network profile in June 2009
- Deloitte found 46% of boomer respondents said they maintained a social network profile in September 2009 (an important difference from simply creating one and forgetting about it).
US internet users who currently maintain a social networking site profile, by generation, 2009 (% of respondents):
- Millennials (14-26): 77% (up from 71% in 2007)
- Generation X (27-43): 61% (up from 51%)
- Boomers (44-62): 46% (up from 30%)
- Matures (63-75): 36% (up from 10%)
TOTAL (14-75): 57% (up from 45%)
Boomers' social network presence has grown steadily since Deloitte's 2007 survey, when only 30% said they maintained a profile on a social network. In that period, millennials' use of social profiles remained fairly steady at 71% in 2007 and 77% in 2009.
Facebook is the favorite social network for boomers, as both comScore and Anderson Analytics data show. (eMarketer, January 2010)
Learning about specials and sales was the top motivation of those who friended or followed a brand online, supporting the results of earlier surveys, according to a December 2009 MarketingSherpa survey. But looking for savings was followed closely by learning about new products, features or services.
Users described as "max connectors" (those with at least 500 social connections) were less interested than average in getting deals. Instead, they cared about new products and company culture, demonstrating the deeper engagement expected by social media power users.
An earlier study, by Razorfish, also found that exclusive deals and offers were the primary motivation of US internet users following brands on Twitter.
Respondents who friended a brand on Facebook or MySpace responded similarly, though they were more likely to become a fan because they were a current customer (32.9%) than were users of Twitter.
Sharing interesting content that users care about, along with the deals and discounts they have come to expect, will both keep them engaged and spur them to pass along marketing messages. (eMarketer, January 2010)
Small businesses are set to increase the time and effort they spend on social media marketing, but research on its effectiveness has been mixed. In a survey from Citibank, for example, the majority of small-business executives found social networks no good for expanding their business.
But according to the "Small Business Marketing Forecast 2010" from Ad-ology, lead generation is the biggest benefit of social networking for US small businesses, cited by half of respondents. Social networks were also considered a good way to keep up with the industry and monitor online chatter about the business.
Small businesses rated Facebook the most beneficial social networking site, with a third of respondents reporting it was at least somewhat helpful. It was also the social network most likely to be used. Use of LinkedIn was less common, but the business-oriented site was claimed as beneficial by 21% of small businesses, compared with 19% that said the same of Twitter.
While awareness of social media is high among small businesses, education is still needed. Nearly half of respondents wished they knew more about the channel, and some of the biggest obstacles to doing more with social networking included a lack of knowledge.
The No 1. roadblock, however, was the perception that "our customers do not use social networks," claimed by 31% of small businesses. Nearly as many complained that they did not have the time or staff available to do a good job with social network marketing. (eMarketer, December 2009)
2009 will end with major shifts in social network advertising spending. Facebook, at 350 million users worldwide, is the premier destination for marketers in the US and many worldwide markets. It will surpass its former rival, MySpace, in ad revenues in 2010, when marketers worldwide will spend $605 million on Facebook versus $385 million on MySpace.
Earned media will be a key theme of social network marketing. Combining social with mobile as well as with local will also yield more advertising opportunities. eMarketer also expects social ad networks to increase in importance. Overall, eMarketer predicts US online social network ad spending will reach more than $1.21 billion in 2009, an increase of 3.9% over last year. 2010 will see stronger growth of 7.1%.
With total US online ad spending falling this year, the increase in social network spending also means the sites will account for a greater share of the total, at 5.4%. However, those figures only include paid advertising efforts, which represent just a fraction of all spending. (eMarketer, December 2009)
Facebook saw the number of visitors more than double in November 2009 compared to the same month in 2008. The social network had 102.8 million unique visitors in November 2009, making it the largest social network, according to comScore data. In contrast, the second biggest social network, MySpace, posted a drop in visitors. It had 63.6 million unique visitors in November 2009, down by 16% compared to November 2008. Unique visitors to Twitter soared to 19.4 million during November 2009, an increase of 17.9 million visitors or 1,222% compared to the same month in 2008.
Top social networking sites by unique visitors, November 2009:
TOTAL INTERNET AUDIENCE: 201,139,000 (+5% compared to November 2008)
SOCIAL NETWORKING AUDIENCE: 163,732,000 (+22%)
1. Facebook.com: 102,856,000 (+104%)
2. MySpace sites: 63,652,000 (-16%)
3. LinkedIn.com: data not available
4. Twitter.com: 19,379,000 (+1,222%)
5. Digg: data not available
6. Betawave social sites: 13,200,000 (+282%)
7. Classmates.com sites: 12,625,000 (-18%)
8. Windows Live Profile: 11,989,000
9. Buzz Media: 9,955,000 (+10%)
10. MyLife.com sites: 8,942,000
(ClickZ, January 2010)
Social networking has become a must for women in 2009, according to the SheSpeaks "Annual Social Media Study." Social networking profile penetration climbed from 58% of internet users in 2008 to 86% in 2009.
Asked about brand-related activities on social sites, 80% of US female internet users said they had become a fan of a product or brand on a social network. In addition, 72% had learned about a new product or brand, or joined a group around one. Web users were less likely to participate on Twitter in all the product- and brand-related activities. SheSpeaks chalks this up to women being more active on social networking sites overall than they are on Twitter.
Half of female internet users had brought a product because of a social network. Purchases based on social networking sites and blogs both increased dramatically over 2008.
Users seemed more receptive to social network advertising than they were in 2008, with 9% saying that they always look at ads and often click through, compared with just 2% last year. Thirty percent look sometimes, versus 13% in 2008, and fewer users felt annoyed by ads or actively ignored them. (eMarketer, January 2010)
A number of major retailers have established a presence on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. For now, retailers are intent to learn from these experiments and are not too concerned with driving e-commerce sales. Building brand awareness and a solid fan base and generating leads have been deemed sufficient. But in 2010, retailers will become more serious about trying to measure social media's impact on sales. One question retailers will grapple with is how much a large fan base translates into sales or brand loyalty.
Social networking sites on which US online retailers maintain a presence, April 2009 (% of total):
- Facebook: 284 (56.8%)
- YouTube: 207 (41.4%)
- MySpace: 143 (28.6%)
- Twitter: 102 (20.4%)
- Kaboodle: 52 (10.4%)
- Stylehive: 27 (5.4%)
- ThisNext: 19 (3.8%)
(eMarketer, December 2009)
It doesn't take a crystal ball to guess that 2010 will be the year in which Twitter turns its focus toward building its business. So far, it has concentrated on audience growth, and by any measure it had a spectacular year. eMarketer estimates that Twitter's US user base tripled to 18 million in 2009.
US adult Twitter users, 2008-2010:
- 2008: 6 million (3.8% of adult internet users)
- 2009: 18 million (11.1%)
- 2010: 26 million (15.5%)
The questions now are: What kind of business will Twitter build, and will it succeed?
The revenue streams that have been discussed include paid corporate accounts, celebrity authentication and temporal search. Of these, search seems the most realistic as a revenue generator. There will be formidable challenges, however: After all, how does a marketer insert itself into a short, time-sensitive conversation without disrupting the flow of that conversation and alienating the user?
It's not clear how, or if, Twitter will overcome these obstacles, but co-founder Biz Stone offered a tantalizing hint when he told Reuters that the company has a novel form of advertising up its sleeve. Expect Twitter to roll this out in 2010 as the cornerstone of its temporal search business.
Another thing to look out for is a possible Twitter IPO. This appears a more likely avenue than an acquisition, which loomed as a possibility at this time last year. (eMarketer, December 2009)
The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has followed up on its 2007 and 2008 studies of social media usage by the Inc. 500. Adoption and awareness continue to trend upward, with 91% of firms using at least one social media tool in 2009 and ¾ describing themselves as "very familiar" with social networking.
Social networking and blogging have seen the most growth in adoption, while other technologies have flattened or even declined in use, including wikis and online video. Twitter usage, of course, has caught on quickly-more than one-half of businesses reported tweeting in 2009. This was the first year respondents were polled about Twitter.
Social media used by US companies, 2007-2009 (% of respondents):
- Message/bulletin boards: 33% (2007) / 35% (2008) / 28% (2009)
- Social networking: 27% / 49% / 80%
- Online video: 24% / 45% / 36%
- Blogging: 19% / 39% / 45%
- Wikis: 17% / 27% / 25%
- Podcasting: 11% / 21% / 12%
- Twitter: 52% (2009)
- Do not use any: 43% / 23% / 9%
One impressive change over time was in the percentage of Inc. 500 companies that did not use any form of social media. It dropped precipitously from 43% in 2007 to just 9% in 2009.
The Center for Marketing Research also noted that the Inc. 500, a list of the fastest-growing private companies in the US, is outpacing the larger, more traditional companies in the Fortune 500 in many social media activities.
Is the rush to adoption bringing marketing success? Respondents overwhelmingly believed it was. The companies polled were mostly measuring hits, comments, leads or sales as primary indicators.
Companies were also monitoring mentions of their brands in the social media space, at 68% this year. That figure was climbing steadily, up from 60% in 2008 and 50% in 2007. (eMarketer, December 2009)
Traffic to Twitter.com was down a dramatic 27.8% between September and October 2009, falling to 18.9 million unique visitors, according to data provided to eMarketer by Nielsen. Nielsen is the latest in a list of research firms reporting declines at Twitter.com. comScore said unique visitors were down 8.1% in October 2009, while Compete reported a 2.1% decline.
It has not been unusual to see wide shifts in Twitter traffic readings among Web measurement firms, and different methodologies likely account for the varying visitor counts. But one thing is clear: traffic to the Twitter.com Website is declining month over month after a period of huge gains. The decrease in visitors could mean either falling interest in Twitter or simply migration to other platforms, such as third-party applications and mobile access.
Crowd Science data from August 2009 indicated 43% of Twitter users accessed the service through third-party applications, and 19% through SMS. RJ Metrics noted a drop in share of tweets for the Website versus other sources between June and July 2009. TweetStats reports that around 30% of daily tweets come from the Website in mid-November 2009.
Rising smartphone adoption and the popularity of mobile Twitter clients is another point in favour of migration. The Nielsen Company reported that Q3 2009 was the first quarter in which more than half of mobile internet users were accessing the Web via smartphone.
While it's valuable to look at Twitter's Web traffic, the true picture won't emerge until all the third-party traffic from mobile phones and API clients is accounted for, according to eMarketer.
eMarketer estimated in September that 18 million US adults would use Twitter by the end of 2009, up from 6 million in 2008. The number should reach 26 million by 2010 when it would account for 15.5% of internet users. With traffic to Twitter.com dropping, and users continuing to access the service through apps, that projection remains on track. (eMarketer, November 2009)
Facebook now accounts for almost 60% of US traffic to social networking sites, having increased its share of audience by 194% in September 2009 compared with September 2008, according to Experian Hitwise. During the same period, the once dominant MySpace slumped to just 30% of overall visits, less than half of the 67% share it enjoyed in 2008.
Additionally, Facebook saw its audience grow by around 3% month-on-month from August to September 2009, while MySpace experienced a drop of around 3%, suggesting its audience decline could continue.
Twitter's meteoric growth has resulted in its share of visits increasing by a whopping 1,170% year-on-year, but it still accounts for just 1.8% of social networking traffic, thereby dwarfed by both Facebook and MySpace. It's important to note, however, that Hitwise only records traffic through the Twitter.com Web site, and does not include access through popular third-party applications, such as TweetDeck, which are likely to account for a large portion of Twitter's use. Tagged received the third largest amount of visits during September 2009 with around 2% and myYearbook rounded out the top five with around 1%.
Top 5 social networking sites by share of US visitors, September 2009:
1. Facebook: 58.59% (+194% compared to September 2008)
2. MySpace: 30.26% (-55%)
3. Tagged: 2.38% (+47%)
4. Twitter: 1.84% (+1,170%)
5. myYearbook: 1.05% (-40%)
Hitwise found that users continue to spend more time on MySpace than they do on Facebook, despite MySpace's traffic loss. Users spent an average of 26 minutes versus 23 minutes a month, respectively.
Year-on-year, however, MySpace has seen a 12% fall in the average amount of time spent on its site, compared with Facebook which has experienced 23% growth in that period.
The average time spent per user on the Twitter site has also dropped dramatically, falling 56% from over 36 minutes in 2008, to just 16 minutes in September 2009. Again, this drop could be attributed to the migration of use from the Twitter site itself to third-party applications which are used by many of the network's most active users. (ClickZ, October 2009)
Forty-seven percent of adult US internet users use online social networks and 19% now use Twitter or other status update services, according to research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The research also found that users with a wireless internet connection, via devices such as mobile phones and laptops, were three times more likely to make use of Twitter, or similar services, than those without.
Additionally, the likelihood of an individual using such sites is directly related to the number of internet-connected devices an individual owns. For example, 10% of users with one connected device are currently using Twitter, compared with 39% of users with four or more internet-enabled devices.
The survey also highlighted the fact that use of Twitter and similar services is more popular among younger users, with 37% of 18-24 year olds and 31% of 25-34 year olds claiming to use it.
Twitter or another status update service users by age, September 2009:
- 18-24: 37% (up from 19% in December 2008)
- 25-34: 31% (up from 20%)
- 35-44: 19% (up from 10%)
- 45-54: 10% (up from 5%)
- 55-64: 10% (up from 4%)
- 65+: 4% (up from 2%)
The survey was conducted during August and September with 2,253 respondents. (ClickZ, October 2009)
California Travel and Tourism Commission (CTTC) has launched user-generated content online through a programme called California Fives. The overall goal of California Fives, an extension of the www.VisitCalifornia.com website's Inside Scoop campaign, is to create an online community of ambassadors willing to connect and promote their opinions and insider information about California. It also aims to increase incremental travel through the state. The topics are grouped in fives and are California-specific. Themes can be as broad as California's five best beaches or five best ski runs, or as narrow as the five preferred wines in Sonoma County or Temecula.
Also making its debut on the CTTC website is an enhanced interactive programme called My Trip.
Located at the top of every web page, My Trip gives travellers the opportunity to create and save a tailored list of all the places and things they might want to experience during their California visit, all in a "travel suitcase." Consumers can save their preferred accommodations, special events, inside scoops, must sees or ideas for multi-day trip itineraries. (EyeForTravel, September 2009)
Social networking is one of the most important activities (online and offline) among US social network users, based on results of Beresford Research's "Use of Online Social Networks" white paper. Among online activities, only e-mail was more popular than social networking. Chatting and even Web browsing ranked lower.
Popularity of social networking vs. other online activities among US social network users, June 2009 (mean rank order):
- Email: 2.6
- Online social networking: 3.1
- Online chat/IM: 4.0
- Web browsing: 4.6
- Online forums: 5.4
- Texting: 5.4
- Online discussion lists: 6.5
- Online news feeds: 6.5
- Microblogs: 6.9
When asked to compare online social networking with several offline activities, social network users only found going out with friends more important. That put social networking ahead of real-life activities such as playing games, reading, watching TV and playing sports.
Beresford reported that posting photos was the top social networking activity, with 81% of respondents taking part, followed by responding to the posts of others (72%) and posting their own thoughts or activities (68%). A quarter linked to a company, product or service on a social network, and, notably, 38% reported clicking on paid advertisements.
Users put great trust in their social networks. Half of Beresford respondents said they considered information shared on their networks when making a decision and the proportion was higher among users ages 18 to 24, at 65%. (eMarketer, October 2009)
Three-quarters of US Web retailers surveyed by the e-tailing group and PowerReviews in August-September 2009 for their "Community and Social Media Study" said they thought brands were accelerating their use of, and commitment to, social media. More than half of Web retailers surveyed already use 5 of the 10 community or social media tools, and only tiny percentages had no plans to use them later. Facebook fan pages were most popular, followed by Twitter and customer reviews.
Community/social media tools that US online retailers currently use or plan to use, August-September 2009 (% of respondents):
- Facebook fan page: 86% today, 10% plan to do so in the next 12 months
- Twitter publishing: 65% / 19%
- Customer reviews: 55% / 26%
- Blogs: 55% / 26%
- Viral videos: 50% / 22%
- Facebook Connect: 43% / 31%
- Social listening: 36% / 31%
- Questions and answers: 29% / 20%
- Community forums: 27% / 18%
- Product suggestion box: 19% / 26%
But fears still abound. Online retailers remain worried about their own competence at using social media and losing control of their brand. Their concerns also showed that retailers understand the importance of social media: One of their biggest fears was that customers would abandon their site in favour of one that was more socially engaging. Using social media might be scary, but avoiding it is becoming less of an option.
The primary social media goal of the retailers surveyed was to increase customer engagement, followed by boosting brand loyalty and spurring word-of-mouth among brand advocates. Responding retailers believed customer reviews were the best community tool for driving engagement-and also the best for increasing sales. (eMarketer, September 2009)
Despite more than half of US women active in social media visiting social networking sites at least daily, 74.8% reported not being influenced by social networks when it came to their purchase decisions, according to the "Women's Survey" by Q Interactive presented at ad:tech Chicago. A little more than a fifth of respondents said they were somewhat influenced, and only a tiny 3.3% reported great influence on their purchase decisions by social networks. About 15% of respondents to the survey reported not using social networks at all.
The female internet users polled were much more likely to say online purchase decisions were affected by coupons and discounts (41.6%), products ratings and review Websites or information searches (22.2%) and even online advertisements (9.5%) than by advice from friends (7.6%) or blog posts and online communities (4%).
Further, the top social networking activities of responding female internet users were sending private messages to friends (34.6%) and sharing photos (13.4%). Just 8.7% said their No. 1 activity was getting product information, and 1% claimed it was writing product reviews. It should be noted, however, that only one response to the question was allowed. While researching and sharing product information might not be women's first priority on social networks, that does not mean they are not doing it.
Among female social network users surveyed by BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners in March 2009, 34% said they used social networks to share their opinions and 20% sought advice and recommendations.
Further, in a spring 2009 study of female social network users by ShesConnected, substantial majorities of respondents considered researching products and services (79%) and finding deals and discounts (64%) important. (eMarketer, September 2009)
Facebook may have started as a site geared toward the college crowd, but as the most popular social network in the US, it has broadened its user base considerably. In June 2009, Facebook had a unique US audience of more than 87 million people, compared with fewer than 63 million who visited MySpace that month, according to The Nielsen Company.
The fastest-growing group of users in August 2009 in the US were males ages 13 to 17, whose numbers increased by 14.5%, followed by men ages 45 to 54, rising 12.8%, according to Inside Facebook. Among women, the highest growth was in the 45 to 54 and 55 to 65 age ranges, which were up 11.8% and 11%, respectively.
Female Facebook users of all ages outnumber their male counterparts. But new male users flocked to the social network at a faster rate than females in almost every age group, tightening the site's gender gap somewhat. Inside Facebook reported that 57% of the site's users, or about 45.4 million people, were women, compared with some 34.3 million who were men.
The largest block of Facebook users is still ages 18 to 25, followed by 26-to-34-year-olds. Taken together, those groups made up 51% of the user population. But young adults also have the lowest rates of uptake, indicating that the age disparity may continue to close, along with the gender gap. (eMarketer, September 2009)
The population of US Twitter users will grow 200% in 2009, according to eMarketer estimates, with growth slowing to a still-impressive 44.4% in 2010. But breaking in as a power user may be difficult. Research from Rapleaf shows a virtuous cycle may exist, making popular users ever more popular.
Will steep adoption rates and new appeal to younger demographics break the cycle and democratize follower metrics or will new users simply form the next batch of disciples for today's biggest microbloggers?
Rapleaf analyzed the Twitter profiles on a word-of-mouth marketing list from a major consumer packaged goods firm. The magnitude of changes between March and June 2009 is an indication of how users follow, and get followed, on Twitter.
Users in the top 0.1% of the group (those with the most followers to begin with) increased their average follower count by 275% from March to June. Those in the top 1% saw their average followers rise by 146% over the period, while the top 10% of users grew followers by 126%. The more followers users started with, the faster their gains.
Looking at the median number of followers, to eliminate outliers, the effect was less pronounced but the same. The most popular users attracted 78% more followers between March and June, while the next group gained 65% and the last group, the top 10% of users, increased their follower count by only 59%.
Popularity feeds popularity, and that can make it difficult for newer users to break in to the upper echelons of Twitter fame. In fact, it has become increasingly difficult over time. In March, just 32 followers were needed for a member of the Rapleaf sample to qualify for a spot in the top 10%; by June, that figure had more than doubled to 67.
The bar is rising for the top 1% and 0.1% as well, though not quite as rapidly: by 85% and 70%, respectively. (eMarketer, September 2009)
Just a quarter of women say they are influenced by social media when it comes to making purchases, according to a study from Q Interactive. The findings show that, even though 75% of women are more active at social media sites now than a year before, only 25% of the participants said the sites influenced them "greatly" or "somewhat" when it came to purchasing.
The study showed around 20% of the women checked social media sites several times throughout the day, while around 34% said they logged on at least once daily. Half of the study participants said they receive between 1 and 4 e-mail newsletters, and around 47% said their trust in a brand was increased after signing up for its newsletter.
Facebook is used most by 66% of respondents, with MySpace following at a distant second at 16%. Meanwhile, the survey showed that traditional media are taking a bit of a hit due to Facebook and MySpace. Out of many activities, 8.3% of the women said they were watching less TV less, while around 4% said they read books and magazines less frequently.
Q Interactive ran the 28-question survey from August 11-14 at its property, CoolSavings.com. (ClickZ, September 2009)
US executives have come to value social media very highly to enhance relationships with customers and build their company's brand, according to the "Social Media: Embracing the Opportunities, Averting the Risks" white paper from Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law.
More than 8 in 10 management, marketing and HR executives responding to the July 2009 survey cited relationship- and brand-building as benefits of social media. Execs also considered social media a good tool for recruitment (69%) and customer service (64%), and 46% thought it enhanced employee morale.
Respondents reported using social media most for brand-building (82%), followed by networking (60%), customer service (32%), and various research- and information-related activities.
Despite high levels of usage and awareness of benefits, executives still have fears about the issues raised by social media. More than half of those who did not use social media said they did not know enough about it, and 4 in 10 worried about confidentiality and security problems. Another 37% had concerns about employee productivity.
Such concerns are not new. A February 2009 worldwide survey by security software company Sophos found that 50% to 60% of companies studied blocked access to social networking sites from the workplace. "Productivity" was the most-cited reason, followed by threats from malicious software (known as malware) and data leakage (the possibility that employees might share proprietary information on these sites). In fact, 62.8% of the managers polled felt employees shared too much information via social networks. (eMarketer, September 2009)
There will be 18 million US adults who access Twitter on any platform at least monthly in 2009, according to eMarketer. That represents a 200% increase over 2008 levels. Usage will reach 26 million US adults in 2010, a further 44.4% climb.
US adult twitter users, 2008-2010:
- 2008: 6 million (3.8% of US adult internet users)
- 2009: 18 million (11.1%)
- 2010: 26 million (15.5%)
This forecast counts 11.1% of internet users as Twitter users this year, a figure close in line with Harris Interactive and Pew Internet & American Life Project estimates of 13% and 11%, respectively, in spring 2009. In 2010, eMarketer expects 15.5% of all US adult Web users to use the microblogging service via any platform.
In April, eMarketer estimated that there would be just 12.1 million US adult Twitter users this year. The upward revision is due to growth in Q2 2009 even stronger than the huge gains seen by Twitter in Q1.
In June 2009, for example, Nielsen reported nearly 21 million unique visitors to Twitter.com. That was a year-over-year increase of close to 2,000%, but also an increase over May 2009. Nielsen, comScore and Compete pegged US unique visitors at 18.2 million, 17.6 million and 19.7 million, respectively, that month.
Because many users access Twitter via text messages, mobile apps and various desktop applications, in addition to Twitter.com, eMarketer's estimate of 18 million users for 2009 is somewhat conservative. This is due in part to research indicating low levels of engagement among the majority of Twitter users. (eMarketer, September 2009)
According to the "Consumer Internet Barometer" report from TNS and The Conference Board, 43% of US Internet users visited social networking sites in Q2 2009. That figure was up 16% from the previous year.
Nearly one-half of females visited social networking sites, compared with 37.6% of men.
More than 70% of Internet users under age 35 browsed social networks. The percentage decreased as users got older, with only 43.1% of those aged 35 to 54 and 18.9% of users ages 55 and older visiting social networks. Still, those represented huge climbs from usage in Q2 2008.
Most users visited social network sites more than once per day. Respondents were most likely to visit social networks in a family area at home, followed by in a private area at home, at work and through mobile devices.
The most popular social networking sites are Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter, in that order.
(eMarketer, August 2009)
Blogging has become a major social media marketing phenomenon over the years so much so that even the US Federal Trade Commission is considering rules for bloggers to follow when working with marketers. Worldwide research from Text 100 shows just how close that relationship has become.
Nearly nine in 10 US bloggers told Text 100 they welcomed contact from PR firms or corporations with information, comments or suggestions. E-mail was bloggers' preferred means of contact, especially in the US.
All of the US bloggers surveyed by Text 100 had been contacted by marketers in the past six months. Majorities in Europe and Asia-Pacific said the same, at 86% and 70%, respectively.
Contact was generally frequent: 96% of respondents in the US reported being contacted by PR firms at least weekly.
Bloggers are big on transparency when it comes to marketer involvement. Between 85% and 89% of US bloggers agreed that they should acknowledge when a post has been written in return for some sort of compensation. Response rates were somewhat lower in Europe and Asia-Pacific, but a majority of bloggers worldwide believed in acknowledging sponsor involvement.
Text 100 suggests one way for marketers to get blog buzz is to use "social media releases" rather than traditional press releases. Bloggers do not want to copy and paste the same article that will appear in every major news outlet - they would prefer a "deconstructed" release so they can find the angle most appropriate to their unique readership.
(eMarketer, August 2009)
According to the "2009 Marketing Industry Trends Report" from Equation Research the survey of US brand marketers found the majority already using social media.
Some marketers were planning on adding social media activities over the next year, including 15% of respondents in businesses with fewer than 50 employees and 24% of those whose companies had at least 500 workers. But most brand marketers interested in social media were already using it.
The most popular social media channels for brand and agency marketers were Facebook, Twitter, online videos and blogs - each used by more than one-half of respondents.
Respondents reported many common barriers to social media adoption. Among brand marketers, 37% did not know enough about social media to begin, and another 37% said there was no good way to measure its effectiveness. Agency marketers reiterated those concerns, and were also likely to say that social media was not proven or tested as a marketing strategy (31%). Funding was also a problem for about one-quarter of brand and agency respondents.
Despite reporting trouble with measurement, marketers do track various social media metrics. More than six in 10 brand and agency respondents reported tracking Website hits. Marketers also monitored feedback, links and mentions on other sites, and sales. Just 14% of brand marketers and 12% of agency marketers reported not measuring social media efforts at all. (eMarketer, August 2009)
43% of US internet users visited social networking sites in Q2 2009, according to the "Consumer Internet Barometer" report from TNS and The Conference Board. This was up from 26.7% in Q2 2008.
Nearly half of US female internet users (48.0%) visited social networking sites in Q2 2009, compared with 37.6% of male US internet users. More than 70% of internet users under age 35 (71.5%) browsed social networks. That percentage decreased as users got older, with only 43.1% of those ages 35 to 54 and 18.9% of users ages 55 and older visiting social networks. Still, those represented huge climbs from usage in Q2 2008.
US internet users who visited social networks, by gender and age, Q2 2009 (% of respondents in each group):
- Male: 37.6% (up from 21.3% in Q2 2008)
- Female: 48.0% (31.1%)
- <35: 71.5% (52.4%)
- 35-54: 43.1% (21.3%)
- 55+: 18.9% (6.4%)
Most users visited social network sites more than once per day (25.9% reported to visit social networks 2-6 times per day, while 5.1% 7 or more times a day).
Respondents were most likely to visit social networks in a family area at home, followed by in a private area at home, at work and through mobile devices. The most popular social networking sites came as no surprise: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter, in that order. (eMarketer, August 2009)
While marketers, advertisers and members of the media have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, the average US consumer has not, according to eMarketer. And without broader consumer acceptance - not to mention awareness - it can't be considered an effective marketing tool.
Only 8% of advertisers and consumers think Twitter is a "very effective" promotion tool, according to June 2009 data from LinkedIn Research Network and Harris Interactive. The research, which included surveys of US advertisers and internet users, found that while 83% of advertisers were familiar with Twitter, only 31% of Web users were.
Naturally, younger respondents were more familiar with the micro-blogging site. Only 11% of 18-to-39-year-old advertisers did not know enough about Twitter to have an opinion on its value, compared with 20% of advertisers ages 40 to 49 and 21% of those 50 and older. Among internet users, 55% of 18-to-34-year-olds said they were not familiar enough to have an opinion, compared with 80% of those 55 and older.
In terms of Twitter's effectiveness for promoting products and ideas, both advertisers and consumers were tepid. In addition to the 8% of advertisers who said Twitter was very effective for promotion, 50% said it was somewhat effective. More than three in 10 (34%) said it was not very effective and 8% felt it was not effective at all. Among consumers, 8% said it was very effective, 42% believed it to be somewhat effective, 31% said it was not very effective and 19% felt it was not at all effective. (eMarketer, August 2009)
Social networkers in the US use popular Websites such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn in different ways depending on their age, according to Anderson Analytics.
In May 2009:
- Generation Z (13-to-14-year-olds) US social network users were more likely to use MySpace (65% of respondents in this age group) than Facebook (61%). Only 9% of them used Twitter and none used LinkedIn.
- Generation Y (15-to-29-year-olds) was a somewhat different story. 75% used MySpace, 65% used Facebook, 14% used Twitter and 9% used LinkedIn.
- Generation X (30-to-44-year-olds) and baby boomers (44-to-65-year-olds) connected on LinkedIn more than any demographic (13% of both age group). 76% of Generation X used Facebook, 57% used MySpace and 18% used Twitter. 73% of Baby boomers used Facebook, 40% sued MySpace and 13% tweeted.
- Nine in 10 older social network users, which Anderson Analytics called the WWII generation, used Facebook, 23% used MySpace, 17% tweeted and 4% used LinkedIn.
When it came to why social networkers joined a social network, however, the reasons were similar from generation to generation. Sizable percentages of every age group wanted to keep in touch with friends, have fun or stay in contact with family, or had been invited by someone they knew. The youngest users were most likely to be interested in fun and friends, while family contact appealed more to older social networkers. Very few users of any age joined for business-related purposes such as recruiting potential candidates, sales, job searches or business networking.
Due to the difference in age of the users, the interests of users are naturally different, according to the report. LinkedIn users are more interested in luxury activities, Twitter users are more interested in pop culture and MySpace users are more interested in humour/comedy and video games. And it seems social networking sites are places for friends to meet, no matter what their age. (eMarketer, July 2009)
41.6% percent of US internet users who used Twitter in Q2 2009 did so to keep in touch with their friends, according to the "Consumer Internet Barometer" from TNS and The Conference Board.
Reasons why US internet users use Twitter, Q2 2009 (% of respondents in each age group):
- Keep in touch with friends: 41.6%
- Update your status: 29.1%
- Find news / stay updated: 25.8%
- Work-related: 21.7%
- For research: 9.4%
- For fun: 0.3%
- Other: 4.6%
Men and women both used Twitter primarily to keep in touch with friends. Secondarily, men were interested in finding news and women in updating their status. Users under age 35 were more interested in broadcasting their status than their senior counterparts. Older users were more likely to use the service for work-related purposes.
The average Twitter user interacted primarily with friends (65.9%) and family (29.9%). Next-most-popular were celebrities (29.7%), bloggers (24.2%), TV shows (17.0%), employers/co-workers (12.6%), companies/brands (10.9%) and TV anchors/journalists (9.8%). More women interacted with friends, family and celebrities than men, but men were more likely to follow bloggers. Older users trailed younger ones in interaction with every Twitter user type except journalists and brands.
Half of tweeters said a friend or family member introduced them to the site and 33% were hooked by a co-worker. (eMarketer, July 2009)
Marketers have become more than willing to start a conversation about their brands through social media. In late 2008, MarketingSherpa surveyed US social media marketers about the effectiveness of their practices. Large majorities rated social media marketing effective at influencing brand reputation, increasing awareness and improving search rankings and site traffic. Social media was considered less effective, but still good, for internal communications and driving online sales.
Marketers thought the best specific tactics were user reviews (47%), relationships with bloggers (46%) and discussion groups (42%). But they also found those tactics difficult to measure, only around 10% of respondents thought they were "very accurately measured."
Measuring effectiveness is not easy when companies don't have a strategy in place for social media marketing. While one-third of larger businesses had a written policy to manage brand communications, only 13% of smaller business did. Even among large businesses, 39% had no policy despite recognizing its importance, and 9% believed it unnecessary. Three-quarters of small businesses had no written policy. (eMarketer, July 2009)
Based on analysis of use of a content-sharing widget, more people use Facebook to share links than any other service, including e-mail, according to AddToAny. Facebook accounts for 24% of uses of the widget to share links to articles, videos and other content, trumping e-mail at 11.1%. Leading services used to share online content worldwide via the AddToAny widget, July 2009 (% share):
- Facebook: 24.0%
- E-mail: 11.1%
- Twitter: 10.8%
- Yahoo! Bookmarks: 5.5%
- MySpace: 5.0%
- Windows Live: 4.7%
- Delicious: 4.5%
- Digg: 4.4%
- Google Bookmarks: 4.0%
- Yahoo! Buzz: 3.9%
- reddit: 3.8%
- StumbleUpon: 3.4%
- Bebo: 3.1%
- Other: 11.7%
Twitter is in the No. 3 spot at 10.8%. But combining all of Yahoo!'s properties-Delicious, Yahoo! Bookmarks, Yahoo! Buzz and Yahoo! Messenger-pushes it up to second, at 14.4%.
Social media's competition with e-mail is actually nothing new. Nielsen's March 2009 report, "Global Faces and Networked Places," found that by the end of 2008, social networking had overtaken e-mail in terms of worldwide reach. According to the report, 66.8% of internet users across the globe accessed "member communities" (social networking or blogging sites) compared with 65.1% for e-mail. Nielsen found that member communities accounted for nearly 10% of all internet time, or one in every 11 online minutes. (eMarketer, July 2009)
Twitter was hacked during May 2009 and stolen internal company data was posted on French blog Korben.info in July 2009. Twitter founder Evan Williams confirmed the attack in an e-mail to TechCrunch, stating, "In general, most of the sensitive information was personal rather than company-related." Nevertheless, Twitter's alleged internal projections were revealing.
Twitter estimated that 25 million people worldwide would be using the service by the end of 2009.
- 2009: 25 million users
- 2010: 100 million users (300% growth)
- 2011: 350 million users (250% growth)
The firm projected that it would have 100 million users in 2010 and 350 million in 2011.
Assuming the information is legitimate, Twitter's growth projections seem overly optimistic, according to eMarketer. In April 2009, eMarketer's own projections shows that they estimated 12.1 million US adult users in 2009 (or 7.4% of US adult internet users) and 18.1 million in 2010 (10.8%). This compares to 6 million users in 2008 (3.8%).
A global projection of 25 million users by year-end would assume that US users make up only 40% of the total, according to eMarketer. That seems unlikely given the US-centric nature of the service.
There are several barriers to widespread Twitter adoption:
- In April 2009, Nielsen Online found that only about 40% of the service's new users return the following month.
- A Harvard Business School study estimated that most Twitter users sent an average of only one tweet in their lifetime.
While many Twitter users consider the service addictive, there also seems to be a growing backlash - a feeling that Twitter-mania might be a 2009 fad, according to eMarketer.
And then there's the revenue question... Without a sizable revenue stream, which Twitter has yet to invent, it's difficult to imagine the service growing its audience to the levels they envision-even if venture capitalists continue to look favourably on the Twitter's prospects, indicates eMarketer. (eMarketer, July 2009)
As a result of the poor economy and various difficulties at MySpace, paid advertising on online social networks in the US is expected to fall 3% in 2009. But the drop will be short-lived.
US online social network advertising spending, 2008-2011:
- 2008: $1,175 million (+32.9%)
- 2009: $1,140 million (-3.0%)
- 2010: $1,290 million (+13.2%)
- 2011: $1,395 million (+8.2%)
eMarketer projects that US marketers will increase their social network ad spending 13.2% in 2010, to $1.3 billion. The expected rebound in spending will come as more companies focus on creating and implementing an overall social marketing strategy, according to eMarketer.
2009 is turning into a year of major shifts in the social network business. Facebook, once a distant second to MySpace, has outperformed its rival in nearly every measure of usage - and is on track to surpass MySpace in ad spending by 2011, according to eMarketer.
US spending at MySpace is expected to fall 15% in 2009, to $495 million, while US spending at Facebook is projected to rise 9%, to $230 million. Consequently, MySpace's share of US spending is projected to fall to 43.4% in 2009, while Facebook and other social network venues will increase their share.
While the US accounts for the majority of ad spending on MySpace and Facebook, non-US spending is growing rapidly at Facebook. eMarketer estimates that marketers will spend a total of $520 million to advertise on MySpace worldwide in 2009, down 14% from 2008. Worldwide spending on Facebook, by contrast, is expected to grow 20%, to $300 million, in 2009. (eMarketer, July 2009)
US gay and lesbian internet users were more likely to be social network members than straights, according to a May 2009 Harris Interactive poll. 55% of US gay and lesbian internet users were on Facebook, versus 46% of heterosexuals, and the differences were similar for MySpace (43% vs 30%) and LinkedIn (23% vs 13%), too.
Despite a fondness for being social online, 63% of homosexuals were apathetic toward advertising on social networking sites and a mere 6% had a positive attitude.
In addition, 55% of homosexual Internet users reported reading blogs. News was the most widely read blog topic (34%) followed by personal (32%), political (28%) and entertainment (25%) information. Only 38% of heterosexuals said they read blogs.
One-fifth of gays and lesbians were Twitter users, compared with 12% of straights. (eMarketer, June 2009)
Facebook became the most popular US social networking site in May 2009, according to comScore. Facebook totalled 70,278,000 unique visitors, up 97% from May 2008 to May 2009. MySpace hits shrank 5% over the same timeframe, fading to 70,255,000 unique visitors.
Top 5 social networking sites among US internet users, May 2009:
1. Facebook: 70,278,000 unique users (+97% compared to May 2008)
2. MySpace sites: 70,255,000 (-5%)
3. Twitter: 17,592,000 (+2,681%)
4. Classmates.com sites: 15,136,000 (+2%)
5. MyLife.com sites: 9,862,000
MySpace still dominates Facebook in one important respect-advertising. MySpace visitors viewed 31.8 million ads in April 2009, accounting for almost 47% of the total social network advertising space. Facebook was second, serving nearly 25 million ads and making up about 37% of the sector.
MySpace also led the revenue category, predicted to earn $495 million in 2009, 115% more than its rival. (eMarketer, June 2009)
Women are turning to all sorts of social media for fun, entertainment, community and connection, according to the "2009 Social Media Study" from BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners. More than half (53%) of the US female internet population of 79 million, actively participated in some type of social media at least weekly.
Of the female social media participants, 75% took part in social networking, 55% used blogs, 40% used message boards/forums and 16% used status updating (e.g. Twitter).
In March 2009, nearly 23 million of the female social media users read blogs. But many women went beyond merely reading: 12 million posted to blogs and 8 million published them. In fact, women who used blogs were more than twice as likely to do so when they were seeking information, advice and recommendations than were women who participated in social networking. When providing advice or contributing to a community, more women also turned to blogs than social networks.
Women are so enthusiastic about reading and writing blogs, they are stealing time from other media to spend more in the blogosphere and on social network sites. (eMarketer, June 2009)
It is not just big businesses that are communicating with customers using social media. More than 260,000 small businesses in the US and Canada employ social networking tactics, too, according to a study by Sage Software and AMI-Partners, Most of them used professional social networking sites (51%) such as LinkedIn. General social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook were also widely used (44%), followed by niche communities (38%) and job sites (37%). Less popular were microblogging services (such as Twitter and Yammer) (28%), forums, wikis (24%) and social bookmarking applications (6%).
The reasons for adopting social networking tactics varied, but the most widespread uses of social media were for responding to customer questions (64%), networking (57%) and reference and educational purposes (44%). (eMarketer, June 2009)
Last Updated on Friday, 02 July 2010 16:42
