Stunning social stats
By Molly Flatt‘Member communities’ (social networking and blog sites) have become the fourth most popular internet activity, overtaking personal email for the first time. They have a growth rate more than twice that of the other four top sectors, accounting for one in every 11 minutes spent online. They reach over 5 percentage points more of the internet population than a year ago. Facebook takes the lion’s share, and its greatest growth (+24.1 million) comes from 35-49 year olds, with twice as many 50-64 year olds joining than under 18s. This isn’t timewasting teens; this is our world. 
On the back of these and a host of other interesting figures, the new Neilsen study (which excludes forums, microblogs, image and video sharing platforms and many other ‘member communities’), acknowledges that “new approaches to the ad model are required for this challenging and complex arena” as trust in traditional advertising plummets, and quick win, unethical strategies increase suspicion and hostility to brand involvement online. Perhaps the sharpest insight is that “social networks provide the trigger to improve the potency of advertising across all forms of media” - i.e. the peer to peer, word of mouth behaviour that they promote needs to be at the heart of all advertising activity.
“Whatever the successful ad model turns out to be, the messaging will have to be authentic and humble, and built on the principle of a two-way conversation – not a push model – that adds value to the consumer. If this magic formula is found, the benefits could be truly incredible, having the potential to transform the potency of advertising across all forms of media to connect with target audiences and overcome the current distrust consumers have with advertising.”
Does this sound like pay per post? Banner ads? Slick microsites with brand-created content? Nope. It’s word of mouth. There is no ‘magic formula’; just the process of helping brands build and nurture sustained, passion-based relationships with individuals and communities, where the consumers are influencing the brands as much as the other way round.
Spend your lunchtime reading the whole thing.
