Social Networking Sites Gobble Up More Time, Ad Dollars, Lead to More E-Mail Use
Nielsen has recently unveiled loads of information related to online social networking sites, including reports on increased time and ad dollar spent on them, users’ demographic information and a surprising finding that increased use of these sites leads to increased use of e-mail.
According to the company, social network and blogging sites accounted for 17 percent of the total time spent online in August, nearly triple the 6 percent observed last year.
Jon Gibs, vice president of media and agency insights at Nielsen’s online division, noted a “wholesale change in the way the Internet is used.”
He added that “While video and text content remain central to the Web experience – the desire of online consumers to connect, communicate and share is increasingly driving the medium’s growth.”
Approximately $108 million was spent on online advertising on the top social network and blogging sites in August, up 119 percent from $49 million in the same month last year.
These sites also took in a bigger share of total ad spending, accounting for 15 percent of total online ad spending in August, up from 7 percent in August 2008.
The Entertainment industry increased its ad spending on social network sites to more than $10.0 million in August, a whopping 812 percent increase from the $1.1 million spent in the same month last year.
Spending on social networking sites by the Travel industry also saw a significant boost, from $473,700 in August 2008 to $2.2 million in August 2009, a 364 percent increase.
Business to Business, Automotive, Health, Web Media and Software each saw increases in ad spending on social networking sites of more than 100 percent.
Nielsen notes that Facebook was the social network of choice in 10 of the 13 industries when ranked by display ad impressions, while MySpace was the leading social network site in the other three.
Nielsen Claritas, which focuses on segmentation analysis of consumer behavior, found that “If you’re in the U.S. and are using a social network like Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn, chances are you’re more affluent and more urban than the average American.”
It also noted key differences between the users of Facebook and MySpace.
“Facebook users have a largely upscale profile. The top third of lifestyle segments relative to affluence were 25% more likely to use Facebook than those in the those in the lower third,” the blog post noted.
“The bottom third segments related to affluence are 37% more likely to use MySpace than those in the top third.”
Facebook users are much more likely to use LinkedIn than MySpace users, according to Nielsen Claritas.
Bloggers and tweeters tend to be more urban, with many of them located in areas like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.
Nielsen also tested a hypothesis that “Consumption of social media decreases email use.” After conducting a small experiment, it found that the hypothesis was disproved.
“It actually appears that social media use makes people consume email more, not less, as we had originally assumed – particularly for the highest social media users,” Gibs noted.
“Intuitively this makes some sense. Social media sites like Facebook send messages to your inbox every time someone comments on your posting or something you’ve participated in, and depending on your settings, can send updates on almost every activity. Also, it’s perfectly logical that as people make connections though social media, they maintain those connections outside of the specific platform and may extend those connections to email, a phone conversation or even in-person meetings.”
Sources:</strong
http://en-us.nielsen.com/main/news/news_releases/2009/september/nielsen_reports_17
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/is-social-media-impacting-how-much-we-email/
