Listen up companies, organizations, non-profits and individuals. If you don’t utilize social media as a core part of your communications – you’re making a huge mistake. Consider yourself warned.
Universal McCann released their annual Social Media Tracker report – an 80-page summary, detailing the evolution of social media acceptance among consumers over a three-year period. More than 17,000 people aged 16-54 representing 29 countries participated in the study, which is currently in its fourth iteration.
The report’s findings make perfect sense to me (as I write this blog post, check e-mail, send Twitter updates and watch the men’s Wimbledon final).
The numbers paint a clear picture. The reach of social media is alarming – in a good way.
Participants were asked, “Thinking about the Internet, which of the following have you ever done?” See if the responses surprised you:
- 83% – Watch video clips online
- 73% – Read blogs
- 68% – Read personal blogs
- 63% – Visit a photo-sharing website
- 57% – Manage a profile on an existing social network
- 55% – Leave a comment on a blog
- 52% – Upload photos to a photo-sharing website
- 46% – Leave a comment on a news site
- 45% – Download a podcast
- 39% – Start my own blog
- 39% – Upload a video clip to a video-sharing website
- 34% – Subscribe to an RSS feed
I’ve never contemplated percentages, but instead thought in terms of “many,” “lots,” and “a whole bunch.”
What’s clear is that people are watching, reading, uploading, commenting and subscribing. The key to social media is participation – opening the lines of communications between companies and consumers and creating two-way conversations. The population is actively engaged and the number of users grows every day.
Posted on
Monday, July 6, 2009
by Sean Taylor Simpson
filed under