The Chic Dis-Ease: Social Media Fatigue
Note: Free research“The Global Online Media Landscape: Identifying Opportunities in a Challenging Landscape,” from Nielsen below.
A FoxNews.com story entitled:
Are You a Twit If You Don’t Want to Twitter?
stated, “a recent survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 45 percent of Americans in all age groups are enthusiastic about socializing via computer and mobile devices. Meanwhile, 48 percent are indifferent to Internet social networks, overwhelmed by gadgets or often avoiding Internet use altogether.”
The other side of the enthusiastic adoption of social media is the large group of people who have actively opted-out or who aren’t even interested in leveraging social networks online.
Though this Fox article reviews social media fatigue, when I look at the @Plan Profiling Report index numbers for Gen Y (18-24), I see that they index at 473 for”Publishing/Updating Blog,” the hover around 400 for “Online Games” and “Web Page Building/Updating,” and they index over 300 for “Social Networking, Last 30 Days,” and “Have 2 Social Networking Profiles.”
Gen Y are three times more likely than all online adults 18+ to participate in social media. @Plan deals strictly with the online audience. For me, when doing research, they are the only market about which I care. My products are all virtual – podcasts and now we are launching our online book/workshop publishing business, so if a prospect is not already online, I would never target them.
As well, Forrester’s “The State of Consumers and Technology: Benchmark 2008″ report shows that “GenYers love social and media activities but are less likely to shop online. Gen Y indexes at 242 for “visiting social networking sites.” I think the reason they are less likely to purchase online is because they are still learning, at their tender age, to be good consumers. They need to touch and feel, and they have more energy to go out shopping as a form of entertainment. They are also not yet having babies, unlike their GenX counterparts. GenX parents need online shopping as a way to save time, unlike the GenYer’s.
I assume other marketers (not the cpg’s with huge consumer budgets, but other online business owners like me) are focused only on the online addressable audience. And these online consumers are indexing at three times the norm for social media. The only other things they care equally or more about are online gaming, downloading music and blogging. I need to carve my mind share out of that set of competition for the Gen Y’s time and I need to reach them through these activities. Social media seems the natural place to not only market Personal Life Media’s offering, but to find those who are influential in recommending media and books to their friends.
Here is “The Global Online Media Landscape: Identifying Opportunities in a Challenging Landscape,” created by the team at Nielsen Online and authored by Charles Buchwalter, Senior Vice President, Research & Analytics. It was given to all full-conference registrants at ad:tech last week. You can click here to download the full report. Some interesting facts include:
- There are 87 percent more online social media users now than in 2003, with 883 percent more time devoted to those sites.
- In the last year alone, time spent on social networking sites has surged 73 percent.
- In February, social network usage exceeded Web-based e-mail usage for the first time.
There’s an interesting chapter on Social Media in this Report. I asked Charlie his opinion on whether social media or “social influence marketing,” (my new favorite term) is an overhyped opportunity for marketers, just getting its legs or something that will be a small but effective part of the marketer’s tool box.
Charlie and Susan at ad:tech’s Chairman’s Reception 4/21/09
Here’s Charlie’s opinion, based on years of watching market dynamics.
Charlie says, “despite the tremendous growth in social networking, many are wondering if it is little more than the current hype popularized by the Gen Y crowd.” “While technology is allowing social networking to take root and flourish, it’s a technology that innovatively puts people and relationships with people first.” “And because of this, savvy corporate marketers are discovering more natural, authentic and meaningful ways to communicate with their customers.” “My gut: we’ve only witnessed the very early stages of how this phenomenon will transform the marketing landscape.”
Get your copy of the report here:
