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Social Media up….email down?
Posted September 14, 2011 | By Hilary Smith, Customer Support Manager | Filed under: Social Media
A newly published study shows just how much time people are now spending utilizing & interacting with online Social Media, and who. It's not just the "cognoscenti" anymore.
If you're of a certain age, you may have felt a little "left out" of the Facebook revolution at the beginning. But no more. Increasingly, Facebook is not just for young folks anymore, it's just simply everybody. It's like the White Pages used to be. It's reached the point where it's notable to NOT find someone on Facebook, than for them to be ON Facebook, which is sort of the equivalent of someone paying the phone company a dollar for an unlisted number in the phonebook.
Increasingly Social Media platforms are becoming the places to be found, and to help your campaign, venture, business get noticed. Again, it's more that "it's expected" that your business, no matter how big or small, would have some sort of social presence.
One of the findings of the study is how much LESS people are using email, as part of their "online" experience. Increasingly, communication is being done through Social Media platforms.
"Social media account for 22.5 percent of the time that Americans spend online, according to the report, compared with 9.8 percent for online games and 7.6 percent for e-mail."
Not every business venture has the same audience, so people will have to tailor campaigns according to how to reach the widest audience. Newspapers still have a very wide reach (a mention in a major newspaper still can create quite an uptick on your web stats, although the Huffington Post certainly is stiff competition), and billboards on freeways are still very effective advertising. But it will probably "pay" to pay attention to the social media sphere, as it grows, so that your company can be responsive to the people using social media.
One indication of how Social Media is changing the communication landscape, editor Alan Geere of the Northcliffe Media South East Group in the UK, has asked applicants to apply only by Tweet. He is apparently tired of sifting through "creatively written" cover letters that try to overstate accomplishments. A Tweet will do!