According to Brian Morrissey of NEW YORK Social networking has overtaken e-mail as the most popular Internet activity, in a new study released by Nielsen.
Social Networks now exceed e-mail participation by 67 percent.
social networking and blogging are growing at twice the rate of portals, e-mail and search.
This is going to effect marketers and publishers. Social networks are eating into time spent with other online activities.
This is an opportunity for advertisers to fill the gap. If it can be achieved, Advertisers or marketers can connect with hard to reach consumers on a social level.
The rise of social media coincides with the decline of portals. Social networking appears to be snatching away users’ online time formerly spent with e-mail, traditionally a large draw to portals.
All told, social media now accounts for almost 10 percent of Internet time. Facebook is leading the pack worldwide, with monthly visits by three out of 10 Internet users in nine global markets, per Nielsen.
The growth in social media is not confined to the U.S. Nielsen charted comparable or higher growth for Australia, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Social media has now broken out of the youth demographic, Nielsen found. For example, Facebook’s greatest growth has come from 35-49-year-olds, and it has added twice as many 50-64-year-olds as those under 18.
Yet advertising and social media to date have mixed like oil and water. Part of that is a function of social media’s communications role — advertising has typically performed poorly in chat and e-mail. The larger challenge for advertising is to move from an interruptive role to joining conversations. That means advertisers need to find ways to add value to users’ experiences, Nielsen found.
“Whatever the successful ad model turns out to be, the messaging will have to be authentic and humble, and built on the principle of two-way conversation — not a push model — that adds value to the consumer,” the report said.
I hope you can put this information to good use.
Jeremy Hope
