A recent New York Times Magazine article featured several interviews with individuals who are becoming frustrated with Facebook and leaving the site. A recent study by a media company in the UK showed that social networking growth for users between 18-24 years old is slowing.
While there are certainly people who have been leaving social media sites, I’m not sure that this is the start of a larger trend. First of all, users between 18-24 were most likely early users of the site and therefore it’s expected that growth in this group would have leveled off. The Times even admits as much, noting, “The exodus is not evident from the site’s overall numbers.”
In fact, Forrester research just released a report, The Broad Reach of Social Technologies, which illustrates the opposite.
According to the report, over 90% of online adults under the age of 35 are somehow involved in social media. Even the over 55 crowd has pulled in surprising numbers- Forrester estimates that over 2/3 of them are participating. Forrester breaks up participants into several categories, two of them being “spectators” and “joiners.” In terms of activity, these groups are on the low end- as their names suggest they are usually passive consumers of social media. Even so, just getting these people online is an important step for marketers, as they still represent a huge part of your audience even though they are mostly silent.
This past year, the spectators and joiners have grown immensely. About 75% of all people online consume social media. I’m pretty sure this debunks the “social media is a fad” myth.
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