We Are Social’s Monday Mashup #35
Gartner: Social networks influence purchase decisions
Research by Gartner confirms that social networks influence the purchase decisions of a majority of consumers. Gartner surveyed around 4,000 consumers across 10 markets and split behaviour into 6 groups, the most influential of whom they named ‘Salesmen, Connectors and Mavens’.
According to Gartner these three groups influence the purchasing activities of 74% of the population, however for marketers, it’s not as simple as trying to target each of these segments. Individuals play different roles within different social groups, and Mavens in particular may be more likely to share negative information about a brand.
none of this is really new information – it just reinforces the fact that when online, consumers behave pretty much as they did prior to the Internet age.
If anyone’s got their hands on a copy of the report and wants to share any further insights, please let us know in the comments. Visit the Gartner website to pick up a copy for only US$1,295.
UK time spent on the internet rises 38% in two years
The IPA has released headline figures from its third TouchPoints survey that describes a week in the life of the average person in Great Briatin over 15. We’ve pulled out a few stats we found interesting but do read the post for a full rundown:
- The percentage of adults claiming to use the internet in a week now stands at 75% rising from 53% in TouchPoints2.
- The growth in internet usage has been across all age groups but is relatively larger for 15-24s ie. +43% compared to 20% growth amongst those aged 55+.
- 16% of all adults and 34% of 15-24s use their mobile phones to access the internet each week.
- 37% of adults claim to social network each week — as we know, this group is particularly skewed towards 15-34s particularly 15-24s, and those either still studying or working full-time and also has a slight female and ABC1 bias. The incidence of social networking also has a strong regional bias towards London and the South East: with the notable exception of the North West, the rest of the country are much lighter social networkers.
- Social networking takes place throughout the whole day but peak time for people to social network is between 6.30pm and 10pm in the evening when 3 to 3.5% of adults claim to be active — about a third of these also claim to be watching the television at the same time. Only a relatively low level of people claim to be social networking at work and this peaks over lunchtime.
- 35% of all adults claim to use Facebook each week — up from 16% in 2008. For 15-24s Facebook’s weekly reach is 79% – up from 39% in 2008.
- Only 4% of adults claim to use Twitter once a week or more whilst the comparative weekly reach figure for Linkedin is 1.4%.
Gawker stalks Zuck, Facebook courts journos
Over at Facebook, whilst Mark Zuckerberg has been dodging the paparazzo whom Gawker hired to make a point about privacy, the Facebook Developer Blog has shown just how keen they are to get on with the media, with an extensive post highlighting all the ways media organisations can use Facebook to increase traffic and engagement levels. Their media page has a good overview of “Best Practices for Journalists”, but their recommendations can be applied to any blog or website.
Amazon implements Facebook Connect
When two of the biggest internet brands are involved in one story, and that story involves social media, there’s bound to be an excess of speculation. Did Amazon and Facebook make some sort of deal? No, Amazon simply implemented Facebook Connect, which has been around for a while.
But it’s still big news, as Amazon pioneered ‘collaborative filtering’ technology to provide more relevant recommendations. By adding Facebook Connect, Amazon can now start to see which customers share not only a preference for early 20th Century crime fiction, but also friends and networks. Individuals who opt-in will be able to see what’s popular with other friends who are using the service, which will certainly make gift buying easier, but will everyone want their Facebook friends to know about their shopping habits? Some of the commenters in this Mashable post certainly don’t.
Facebook Questions launched
If that’s not enough Facebook news for one week, you’ll be pleased to know that a new application allowing users to ask questions to the Facebook community is currently in beta in the US and UK. Brand pages will automatically be given a new questions tab, where they cannot delete user questions at their will (like the wall) and where they can answer questions either as the brand or as the personal profile accessing the page. We’ll be eagerly watching how this changes user interaction with brand pages, as it is planned to come out of beta and be available to all users in the near future.
20 billion tweets reached
Twitter has grown massively in Japan, so it was only fitting that the Tokyo graphic designer who goes by the catchy handle @GGGGGGo_Lets_Go, was the one to reach the milestone. As the BBC notes:
Twitter took four years to reach its 10 billionth tweet, in March this year, and less than five months to double it.
Xbox offer support via Twitter, sending 5,000 tweets per week
The Xbox customer support team are offering dedicated Twitter support via an “Elite Tweet Fleet”. According to Social Media Examiner, they are responding 91 hours per week, including nights and weekends when users are most likely to be gaming. And they don’t shy away from language that may be inappropriate on a telephone support line.
“When people are passionate and they use that kind of language, a lot of times there’s legitimately something wrong with our service,” says McKenzie Eakin, program manager, Xbox LIVE Service Delivery (also known as @XboxSupport Elite Tweet Fleet Sky Captain).
Bump and share
A few days ago, Mashable reported on the new release of Bump; Bump 2.0:
Bump, the app that makes it super simple to exchange information with other users by bumping phones, has just released Bump 2.0 for the iPhone. The app features an updated and refined interface plus the ability to compare calendars, instantly connect on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, and the ability to send messages back and forth without another Bump. Like its predecessor, Bump 2.0 is free.
StumbleUpon drives nearly twice as much traffic as Digg
Web analytics companies Woopra and StatCounter have uncovered a “silent social media success story” in the form of StumbleUpon:
It now has 10.6million users and… according to a new analysis by web analytics company Woopra it drives nearly twice as much traffic than Digg. Statcounter uncovered a similar trend recently, with StumbleUpon second only to Facebook among social media traffic drivers
Those of you needing a handy visualisation to grasp just how much traffic StumbleUpon generate can feast your eyes on the below pie chart from Woopra, which shows the top social bookmark referrers.
