Half of U.S. adults use social media. That is, they do according to the latest findings from Universal McCann's "Media in Mind" study, an ongoing research effort that analyzes how consumers relate to media and products in their daily life. However, it's worth noting that in this particular study "social media" includes text messaging. Combined with blogging and social networking, these three technologies are used by 50% of U.S. adults for communication purposes.
In the 18-34 year-old demographic, the numbers of social media users are even higher: 85% of rely on one of the three platforms to stay in touch with others. Of course, the increase in those who are now texting could be pushing these overall numbers up. It seems that more adults are texting than ever before. Those adults who say that they've never sent a text message fell to 41% from 49% last year.
Says Graeme Hutton, SVP-Director of Consumer Insights: "We're definitely seeing continual shifts. The great unwashed - those people who have never sent a text message - is getting smaller all the time."
Side Note: Personally, I find the terminology "the great unwashed (masses)" a little demeaning. The fact is that those at the lower end of the technology-use spectrum don't use things like text messaging and the internet as much because they are usually economically disadvantaged - an unfortunate condition that has numerous causes including everything from poor educational resources to lack of job opportunities in their geographic region. Lumping this lower-income group into one "great unwashed" group was an unnecessarily cruel way to address those not participating in the social media revolution.
That aside, there are still plenty of valuable findings that have surfaced because of this study, including the following new data:
But are these numbers showing a true shift in sheer numbers of users or really just a change in awareness? Hutton says, "Two years ago, asking people about blogs, people were shaking their heads. I think now it's taking off because social networks are taking off...People may have been doing it before, but may not have realized it. Now they're recognizing it for what it is."
Although these numbers look promising for our favorite genre, social media, they should probably be taken with a grain of salt. While we do believe that text messaging is an important method of communication, it doesn't quite fit with what the standard definition of social media is: blogging, social networking sites, and other web properties that engage collective groups of people to drive their content. We would like to see how the numbers really break down among the three "social media" activities they measured, but that data was not immediately available.
Source: MarketingVOX
Update: After contacting Universal McCann to clarify whether or not they really believed that text messaging counted as "social media," I received this response:
"The Media in Mind research bulletin we issued was in fact about emerging media not social media. I think the article took a broad over-arching view of the emerging media reviewed by the MiM research which might lead to that possible reading of the article to put all three media you mention together as "social media". However, that said, I think your query raises an interesting point. I think we would typically define social media as online applications that aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. In exploratory qualitative research, we have undertaken indicates the consumer might take a broader view of what social media might mean. For example, it could be taken by consumers to mean any digital form of personal communication that helps enable peer collaboration and sharing. This softer, less-structured definition is possibly useful in determining possible future growth areas of personal social P2P media from a consumer-centric POV."
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I had no idea 1 in 10 American's write a blog. It's also sad to think 1 in 10 Americans are in jail.
Posted by: Alex the Freelance Twin | August 6, 2008 6:53 AM
The other half of US adults are using what?
Posted by: Jack
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August 6, 2008 7:01 AM
The offer half still communicate with real people, Jack. Duh.
Posted by: Blake Robinson
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August 6, 2008 7:06 AM
thanks for sharing.
Posted by: paresh | August 6, 2008 7:14 AM
And what happens to those stats when you exclude SMS texting from the social media tools? An other study from Universal McCann worths the time spending: http://www.slideshare.net/mickstravellin/universal-mccann-international-social-media-research-wave-3?src=embed
Posted by: Romain | August 6, 2008 7:16 AM
I commented on this on SocialMedian and it boiled down to this: what a misleading title. The article says 10% of all adults blog and 41% of adults say they've *never* sent a text message. So that means 59% have, thus, "more than half text,blog, otherwise use social media"?
For such a statement to be accurate, this type of trend would need to be evident across all adult age brackets, but it's not. The article repeatedly states how the 18-34 age bracket has about 85% participation in the social media scene (which isn't news). For this to average out that half of *all* adults are working these activities, there must be next to *no* activity in these areas for the 45+ crowd.
Posted by: Just Another Blogger | August 6, 2008 7:21 AM
Just Another Blogger: No, you are mistaken*. Half of US adults use *at least* one of the three: social networks, blogging, text msgs. The figures on the 18-34 demographic are separate from the adults data, hence the sentence that begins "In the 18-34 year-old demographic, the numbers of social media users are even higher..."
Hope that clears it up for you.
*Although, like I argued in the conclusion, I don't think they should be counting text messaging in this social media study at all.
Posted by: Sarah Perez
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August 6, 2008 7:57 AM
You totally disarmed me for pointing out how demeaning labels can be that I lost my focus on the social media survey result.
Hats off to you for speaking out on that.
Best.
alain
www.mor.ph
Posted by: Alain Benedict Yap
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August 6, 2008 9:17 AM
Why didn't you link to Universal McCann's study, instead of their homepage? That site is an abortion and impossible to navigate.
Also, I strongly suspect you misread this survey -intentionally or unintentionally. "Half of U.S. adults?" Is that really what they said? Or half of U.S. adults who are ONLINE? At least a quarter of the population isn't online. Who defines what "social media" is, anyways? Amazon.com has allowed user-generated comments and reviews for almost 10 years. Was it Web 2.0 in 1999? Is it social media? Who defines social media. Sorry, but you need to READ before you WRITE on the WEB!
I wish I had more hands so I could give his post four thumbs down.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 6, 2008 1:01 PM
Sarah, I would still disagree that this study implies social media (as we on this site think of it) is all that popular in the mainstream. Once you dig through the backlinks, the original post says "Text messaging, blogging and social networking have reached critical mass, with more than half of adults now relying on at least one of these so-called Web 2.0 platforms for communicating with friends, family, or colleagues on a regular basis". At least one.
They give hard numbers for blogging, texting, and IM (which is odd as it wasn't specified as one of the emerging media studied), but no hard data on social network participation. Personally, I find the omission telling.
Posted by: Stupid Blogger
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August 6, 2008 8:58 PM
"The fact is that those at the lower end of the technology-use spectrum don't use things like text messaging and the internet as much because they are usually economically disadvantaged - an unfortunate condition that has numerous causes including everything from poor educational resources to lack of job opportunities in their geographic region. Lumping this lower-income group into one "great unwashed" group was an unnecessarily cruel way to address those not participating in the social media revolution."
Sarah? Show me the references here, please?
The only text I use is an extremely rare twitter barrage. My son in ABQ will text me a novel, to which I reply with a phone call. I refuse to text message on my phone because it is much easier for me to talk on it. And I practically gave up IMs years ago... Then again, I'm not really considered to be at the low end of the tech-use spectrum.
But I do alot of on-site pc service calls, for generally upper-middle and upper income households. What I find is that these people choose to use only the technology they find useful to them (just like me). These folks are definitely not lower income. They simply have different priorities when it comes to technology. Usually that's limited to email and a 'portal' site like Yahoo.
According to a recent Pew Internet study, among folks who don't use the net, less than 1 in 10 cite price as a factor. Most of them say they just don't see what the big hullabaloo is about.
From that study:
* 33% of non-users say they are not interested.
* 12% say they don’t have access.
* 9% say it is too difficult or frustrating.
* 7% say it is too expensive.
* 7% say it is a waste of time.
I agree with you that 'the great unwashed' is a poor choice of terms because of a negative connotation. But until I read your side note above, it never occurred to me to chain the term to an economic class.
Posted by: Jon | August 7, 2008 1:57 AM
@Jon I was referring to people who don't use *any* (or hardly any) technology at all - from the internet to text messaging. Obviously, you don't fit in this group.
The PEW study only looks at internet use, but even the non-internet users may use cell phones to text. Who knows? I haven't seen the data on that yet. (And I would also like to demo the internet to those who claim to not be interested - I'll bet a lot of them are senior citizens - show them streaming videos of their grandchildren and they'll be in! lol)
Seriously though, the term "great unwashed" refers to the common, lower class (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/the-great-unwashed.html), which is why I found it demeaning.
Posted by: Sarah Perez
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August 7, 2008 6:26 AM
@Just Another Blogger: Fair enough. I hear you - I would like to see all the data myself. However the article (the backlink) you're referring to is just another media outlet reporting the findings as they interrupted them (as I did here) and is not the actual data - perhaps they forgot to mention the #s for social nets? I don't know, but until we can access the study's findings ourselves in raw format it will be difficult to say.
Posted by: Sarah Perez
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August 7, 2008 6:29 AM
'And I would also like to demo the internet to those who claim to not be interested'
You and I both!
Thanks for showing me where the original term came from. I like learning new stuff. Interestingly, the online urban dictionary has several loose meanings attributed to the term. My favorite is the 4th on the list:
'People who go to Lan parties and don`t wash for three days straight...also known as CS Players.'
Makes me glad I quit playing CS. Now I play CS:S.
Time for a shower...
Posted by: Jon | August 7, 2008 12:57 PM
Hey, Sarah,
Are you surprised at all to see 10% of all adults blogging, and at the same time only about 10% of the Fortune 500 publicly blogging?
As the number of (let's call them 'connected') adults grows, why is it that businesses are continually laggards? It's a curiosity to me.
Posted by: Janet Johnson | August 7, 2008 4:02 PM
"Personally, I find the terminology "the great unwashed (masses)" a little demeaning. The fact is that those at the lower end of the technology-use spectrum don't use things like text messaging and the internet as much because they are usually economically disadvantaged - an unfortunate condition that has numerous causes including everything from poor educational resources to lack of job opportunities in their geographic region. Lumping this lower-income group into one "great unwashed" group was an unnecessarily cruel way to address those not participating in the social media revolution."
B.S!
'The great unwashed' refers to the 'Tech-challenged' as opposed to the 'Tech-savvy.'
Two friends I introduced to text-messaging over the past year both make more $$ than I do and are better educated. Unlike most of the world that with proficient completeness uses mobiles as a cheaper alternative than buying a computer (and land-line telephony is outrageously more expensive in some places than wireless), my two friends live right here in the U.S. and have full access to all the wonderful things technology has to offer.
Why are they behind...?...because their lives and minds are deeply entrenched in the old school use of technology.
I think they are indicative of a large group in the western world: Middle-aged, middle-class and busy in lives developed and firmly affixed (to that world and that world's use of media-tech) long before social media and its associated technologies started to change the world around them.
To be honest, I'm just as glad. They're probably both smarter than I; and, I know they work harder (not that I don't). But, while these and other smart guys are distracted with the old world, maybe the rest of us can make a few bucks.
Rob N
LetterRep.com
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