Social media is changing comms
Says Jamie Gavin*. Brands are waking up to the power of social media, as consumer use of social media platforms continues to grow at an astonishing rate.
According to comScore, of the 38 million people age 15 and over who went online in May 2010, nine out of 10 visited at least one social networking site, making it the most popular online activity in the UK. That represents a user base of 33 million people, and a year-on-year increase of 13%.
Engagement levels are increasing too. The average number of hours spent using social media in the UK has grown 54% over the past year, from 4.6 hours per person in May 2009 to 7.1 hours in May 2010. In other words, more and more people are spending longer and longer on social media sites.
The activity is also no longer the preserve of the initiated. Facebook – which brought social media to the masses – is now being used by eight in 10 UK Internet users.
And it is not just consumers who are becoming more immersed in social media. Celebrities and brands too, are placing increasingly high emphasis on media interaction in this way.
Lady Gaga’s recent rise to 10 million Facebook fans – the first celebrity in the world to achieve this feat – attracted mass attention, signifying the arrival of the social networking behemoth as a mainstream media entity.
As more recently reported by Famecount.com, Starbucks followed in the pop Princess’ footsteps by becoming the first brand in the world to break the 10 million-fan barrier on Facebook, highlighting the potential of these sites for such entities.
That shouldn’t be surprising, as social media is now as integral to online communications as search or e-mail. What is perhaps even more significant is the reverence now being placed on these tools by existing celebrities and brands, as Starbucks’ much celebrated recent rise to 10 million Facebook fans has demonstrates.
Social media is infiltrating mainstream consumer culture and changing the very nature of the traditional media we have become accustomed to. The fact that brands are waking up to these new technologies is good news, but we still have a long way to go to make the industry sit up and realise the full potential of these marketing channels.’
Whether or not Twitter, which still has a relatively low user base of 4.3 million UK users, will be able to achieve the kind of mass following that Facebook already enjoys remains to be seen – it is a very different way of networking. However more media-communications tools will undoubtedly evolve over the coming years and as brands evolve their communications strategies to incorporate them we will begin to see an even more interesting media landscape.
*Jamie Gavin is the founder of Jay-G Media
