Monday, August 1, 2011

Deciphering the Data: Pew Releases Three Key Social Media Reports

CKSyme reporting:
Pew Internet, the nonprofit “fact tank”, released three reports in June and July that are worth taking a look at. In this entry, I’ll take a look at the first of the three.
The June 16 report, titled “Social Networking and Our Lives,” concentrates not only on the social networking site (SNS) habits of adults (18 and over), but adds a unique twist in measuring “ how use of these technologies is related to trust, tolerance, social support, and community and political engagement.” I realize the report was done with nonprofits in mind, but this vital psychographic information is valuable for all businesses and organizations. The report can be accessed here.
Five key takeaways from the report:
1. The social networking crowd is getting older. “The average age of adult SNS users has shifted from 33 in 2008 to 38 in 2010. Over half of all adult SNS users are now over the age of 35.” This isn’t really news, but I think the age point is. Your average SNS user is now almost 40. Is it time to take a serious look at the social technographics of this age group and shift some online strategy? Over half (59%) of adults online use at least one SNS. If you look at the age distribution stats, you see that the playing field (age-wise) is a lot more even now than it was in 2008, and is only bound to keep going in that direction. Social media is the mode of the masses, not just the young.
2. Facebook users are more trusting, have closer relationships, and get more social support than other people. Now you may say, so what, but you’d be missing the bigger picture.
http://www.cksyme.org/2011/07/deciphering-data-pew-releases-three-key.html

No comments:

Post a Comment