Everyone’s putting out stats on how one element or another of the social media landscape is doing, i.e. 175 million Facebook users spend an average of 3 billion minutes a day on Facebook, according to Conde Nast Portfolio; Twitter is growing at a 1,382% annual growth rate; Facebook has grown from 100 million to 200 million users in less than 8 months.
What does all this mean to the B-to-B marketer? It means that the world is embracing social media in one form or another. It means that Americans have not only found it, but are using it. Media post reports 49% of us are using some combination of social media in their life. Here’s a breakdown of social usage by age, gender and education that I think you’ll find interesting from a poll by Harris Interactive:
| Online Social Network Usage – By Age & Gender (All Online Adults; % of Age Group) | |||||||
| Age Group | Gender | ||||||
| Network Usage | Total | 18-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55+ | Male | Female |
| Have a Facebook or MySpace account |
48% |
74 |
47 |
41 |
24 |
45 |
52 |
| Update Facebook or MySpace account at least once a day |
16 |
29 |
17 |
10 |
3 |
14 |
18 |
| Use Twitter (Net) |
5 |
8 |
7 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
5 |
| Follow people on Twitter |
5 |
8 |
6 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
5 |
| Use Twitter to send messages |
3 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
* |
3 |
2 |
| None of these |
51 |
25 |
50 |
59 |
76 |
54 |
47′ |
| Source: Harris Interactive, April 2009 Multiple responses allowed; * indicates less than 0.5% | |||||||
| Online Social Network Usage – By Education (All Online Adults; % of Group) | ||||
| Education | ||||
| Network Usage | Total | HS or less | Some College | College Grad+ |
| Have a Facebook or MySpace account |
48% |
40 |
55 |
52 |
| Update Facebook or MySpace account at least once a day |
16 |
14 |
18 |
16 |
| Use Twitter (Net) |
5 |
3 |
7 |
6 |
| Follow people on Twitter |
5 |
3 |
6 |
6 |
| Use Twitter to send messages |
3 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
| None of these |
51 |
59 |
43 |
47 |
| Source: Harris Interactive, April 2009 Multiple responses allowed; * indicates less than 0.5% | ||||
