Stats of the month – January

To kick off the New Year, here’s the second in my series of presentations about ten stats of the (previous) month.     Each slide has an embedded link for further information, and I’ve also included the text and link for each slide below:

 1 – Social networking has become the world’s most popular online activity

It accounts for 20% of Internet time and social networking sites now reach 82% of the world’s online population (Comscore)

In fact, there are now more Facebook users than Buddhists! (Rune Leth Andersen)

2 – At the same time, social media may be reaching saturation point in many markets

“Social is running out of hours.  Social is also running out of people” - George Colony, Forrester

Forrester says social media only slightly less popular than shopping and childcare

3 – As a result, the growth area for social remains emerging markets

According to Pew Research, out of 20 countries surveyed, the top three for the % of the total population on social media were Israel (53%), USA (50%) and the UK (50%)

However, if you look at the % of the Internet population on social media, the top three are Indonesia (86%), Russia (84%) and Egypt (82%)

4 – Facebook may have the numbers, but Twitter shapes the news agenda

Twitter was the most cited social network in the media in 2011, beating Facebook in 10/12 months – including Sept when Facebook’s new features were launched (Highbeam Research)

5 – The Internet is now Britain’s 2nd biggest news source

According to Oliver & Ohlbaum, 75% use the TV for news, 68% the Internet, 54% newspapers and 33% mobile

6 – Social media continues to chip away at traditional media use

In the UK, 18% read a printed national newspaper less due to social media use.  In Australia the figure is 21% and in the US it is 15% (Ofcom)

7 – Younger and female users of social media use it as a prime news source

51% of 18-24 year olds in the UK, 53% in the US, 61% in France and 61% in Italy use social channels for breaking news (Ofcom)

8- Social TV continues to rise in importance

More proof that social media and TV can effectively work hand in hand:

38% of Internet consumers have used a social network to recommend a TV programme and 29% often discuss what they are watching on TV in real-time online (Motorola)

9 – Apple dominates the mobile web

61% of European non PC Internet traffic comes from Apple ‘iDevices’, while in the US 92% of mobile purchases were made via iPhones and iPads (Comscore / RichRelevance)

10 – Instagram on track to becoming the world’s biggest mobile social network

Overtaking Foursquare (SocialFresh)

The December stats of the month can be found here

Related articles

• Vivek Wadhwa, WaPo: Social media will become a feature rather than the “big thing” (nextlevelofnews.com)
• Prediction #1: Social media slides down the pedestal (swordandthescript.com)
• Top 10 Social Networking Resolutions for Business in 2012 (ipwatchdog.com)
• The State of Social Media and Social Media Marketing in 2012 (slideshare.net)
• Surprise hit Pinterest a top 10 most-trafficked social network | Logicamp (logicamp.wordpress.com)

More than half of UK mobile users that access social networks from their phones do so almost every day.   This is according to Comscore, which says that overall around 35% of the UK mobile phone population uses social networks from their phones.

Note that around 44% of UK mobile users have a smartphone, with iPhone users most likely to go online.   The overlap between smartphone and mobile social network users won’t be exact, but it will be pretty strong.

As a result, the conclusion is that smartphone ownership is increasing mobile social network use.   And that use is by and large heavy, rather than infrequent.

Related articles

• The rise of mobile social networking (conversations.nokia.com)
• 55m people using social networks via mobile in ‘EU5′ nations (mobile-ent.biz)

Another study to add to the arsenal of ‘why spend money on social media.’

This time from Nielsen, which shows that among consumers using social media, consumer ratings and reviews come top as the preferred source of product information.

The Nielsen blog post doesn’t specify where the study took place, but assuming it was carried out in the US, social media users = just over half of the population (allowing for 3/4 Internet penetration and 3/4 Facebook use among the Internet population)

Less well received?   A company’s Twitter ID at 7%.  I interpret that in two ways.   First of all, corporate social media accounts aren’t trusted to deliver unbiased product information, but ones run by ordinary consumers are.

Secondly, you may not look to a social media feed for product information, but you will turn to it for news and / or complaints.

Finally, the Nielsen study again confirms female dominance in the social media realm with women on social networks more likely to talk to their friends about brands than men (81% vs 72%)

Related articles

• The State Of Social Media 2011: Social Is The New Normal (fastcompany.com)
• The Nielsen Social Media Report and What It Means to Customer Service (customerthink.com)

Then according to metrics firm Experian, in the UK at least 14 minutes would be spent on social media, ahead of entertainment (9 mins) and shopping (5 mins).

No surprise when it comes to who takes the lion’s share of social media time.   Facebook accounts for half of all UK social networking visits and an average visit time of 22 mins (I wonder how much of that is a visit time, and how much is having Facebook open on your computer).

Related articles

• If UK Internet usage was just 1 hour (weblogs.hitwise.com)
• 20 stunning social media statistics (cyberjournalist.net)

Research from Harris in the US (via emarketer) – teens (13-18 year olds) and tweens (8-12 year olds) are not swayed by celebrity product endorsements with only 2% saying that they looked to see what celebs were doing before buying.

Instead, certainly among teens, online reviews and friends’ opinions are important with both cited by 40% as influencing their purchasing decisions.    However price (67%) and actually being able to physically check out a product in-store (55%) still came top.

Things look a little different when you look at the kids’ parents.   There, online product reviews ranked higher than going to the store in person (53% vs 46% for all parents).   By comparison, 19% of parents said they paid attention to TV ads before buying consumer electronics, with 15% actually asking their kids’ opinions.

Note that though over half of parents consult online reviews, only 11% ask for opinions on social networking sites.

At the same time, newspaper and magazine articles are half as influential as online reviews (53% vs 26%), which partially explains why places such as the Apple apps store are often filled with app reviews that look suspiciously fake (a key give away being a series of glowing reviews posted on the same day).

Related articles

• Hone Your Eye for Fake Online Reviews [Reviews] (lifehacker.com)
• Amazon Fake Products and Fake Reviews (news.slashdot.org)
• First-time moms more likely to tweet and text than others (parentcentral.ca)

Nielsen has published a ‘pocket guide to social media and kids’ (thanks to Erin Lamberty for sending it to me), it’s a US stats digest, and one that mirrors a lot of what’s been published in the UK, Australia et al.

In particular, Nielsen looks at the theme that “to adults, cell phones are a communications device. To children, they are a lifelines” – or as Synovate found out recently in a global study, they are increasingly ‘remote controls for life.’

The following chart shows that 13-17 year olds significantly over-index in mobile Internet use when it comes to social networking, music, games and videos / music. At the same time, the average age in which kids first use mobiles / cellphones has gone down over the past year from 8.6 to 8.0 years.

As Nielsen says, “the next time you hear ‘everybody’s got one’, the fact is, that classic ploy may be true.”

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• All-in-one post on all-in-one devices (jamesfallows.theatlantic.com)
• Data on Twitter and Social Media Use (socialmediatoday.com)