Social media has become an integral part of many lives worldwide, and shows no signs of stopping. According to Nielsen’s Social Media Report 2012, online time spent using mobile apps was up 122%. Mobile web time has increased 22%, while PC time experienced a 4% increase.
The report revealed that people spent more of their time on social networks than any other web site type. People were more engaged with these social channels, and businesses have leveraged social media as digital marketing tools.
Competition is fierce among social media sites. While rankings stayed the same despite PC browser, mobile web or mobile app access, mobile audience grew across the board. Facebook finished first, while Blogger, Twitter, WordPress, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr, MySpace and Wikia trailed close behind.
According to the report, half of people aged 25 to 34 use social media at work, the largest demographic to do so. Three-quarters of users felt positive after their social sessions, one-quarter felt neutral, and fewer felt negative. Perhaps the reason for social media’s dominance in our lives is the way it makes us feel: happy, connected, stoked, amused, etc.
In addition, the report found a trend among the simultaneous usage of digital devices while watching TV; 41% of tablet users and 38% of smartphone users spent time on these gadgets while channel surfing. During these times, almost half of the tablet users were accessing social media or shopping online, 38% of smartphone users were on social media and roughly 20% were either online shopping or looking up TV show-related information. One-third of Twitter users tweeted about TV content this year, a 27% increase from 2011.
Advertisements on social media were both intrusive and welcome.Although one-third of social media users found these ads annoying, more than one-quarter were likely to pay attention to ads posted by their contacts and also approved of ads identified based on their profiles, according to the social media report Social likes were the most common reaction to viewing an ad, proving that social ads could provide great exposure for a brand.
Preferences and recommendations from social networks have driven the opinions, behaviors and decisions of consumers. This was revealed in the report, as each month, 70% of social media users heard others’ product experiences and 65% learned about brands and their offerings. Half complimented brands, while another half criticized them.
