Nearly 3/4 of the U.S. Internet users engage in social media at least once a week, according to a BlogHer and iVillage survey co-sponsored by Ketchum and The Nielsen Company. That usage includes blogs, social network sites, and online message boards. The 73 percent of social media users within the 1,700 people surveyed translates into a total U.S. social media audience of approximately 127 million.
The purpose of the 2010 Social Media Matters Study was to compare media usage patterns in different segments of the population according to gender, generation, etc., and to show the purchasing behavior of social media users. An overwhelming majority (87 percent) of those surveyed were women, and a total of 1,876 BlogHer Network members were surveyed along with 1,752 general Internet users.
Some of the findings include:
- The top media destination is still television at 55 percent, but Facebook is hot on its trail at 47 percent, beating out both radio (37 percent), print newspapers (22 percent, and print magazines (9 percent).
- 1/3 of regular blog readers are comprised of 18- to 25-year-olds (“Millenials”) and nearly one half of those who write for blogs on a consistent basis fall in the same age range.
- For the Millenials, online searches are a top influential resource for purchasing decisions at 70.7 percent. Blogs (32.4 percent) and social networks (27.4 percent) aren’t too far behind TV (39.8 percent) and magazines (37.8 percent).
- Despite a reported 105 million registered users on Twitter, only 9 percent (11.4 million) use it daily.
Source: “The BlogHer – iVillage 2010 Social Media Matters Study,” survey report, April 2010
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