Social media study sheds some light on the interests of consumers
Digital agency iAcquire recently partnered with SurveyMonkey, a market research firm, in order to shed some light on how people use social media. Years ago, as consumer electronics first began growing more popular, there were concerns that technology would lead to the society’s isolation from itself; people becoming more enthralled by technology and less integrated into their communities and society as a whole. The advent of mobile technology appears to have put those concerns to rest, as smartphones and tablets have enabled people to stay in constant contact with one another no matter where they are or what they are doing. Social media plays a major role in this constant connection.
Social media engagement increased 30 billion minutes between 2011 and 2012
According to a new study produced by iAcquire and SurveyMonkey, the time consumers spend engaged in social media has increased by 30 billion minutes from 2011 to 2012. The two firms have studied the way people use social media, tracking what they share, how they share, and what they search for. The firms also took note of age demographics and which of these demographics favored particular social networking sites.
Older consumers are more connected to social networks
According to the study, those between the ages of 18 and 29 favor Orkut, a social media site operated by Google. Reddit, DeviantArt, and Github follow closely behind. For those older than 30, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter are the most favored social networks. Facebook is not strictly preferred by either demographic, but is still used regularly. The study shows that social media is most prolific among those over the age of 30 and that the majority of all social media users, across all ages, do not use Facebook search or the search functions of other social networking sites.
Facebook begins slipping
The study shows that Facebook is beginning to lose traction with social media users, with its time engagement falling 4% between 2011 and 2012. During the same time, engagement in Google+ rose by 80% and engagement in Pinterest rose a staggering 1,000%. Social media behavior is expected to continue evolving, especially as social networks begin to focus more heavily on the mobile space as a way to engage a new generation of consumer.
