A connected generation:

the rise and rise of

social media
Sarah Everitt,
Louise Brice,

1
The rise and rise of social networking

2 in 3 internet users 
worldwide visited a 
social networking site 
in May 2010

Source: ComScore May 2010

The rise and rise of social networking

In July there were 500 million 
people worldwide actively 
using Facebook
50 million tweets per day, 
on average
24 hours of video uploaded 
to YouTube every minute

Source: Facebook; Royal Pingdom; YouTube

It’s entering the mainstream..

Globally, more people use social networks than 
email

Source: Mary Meeiker, April 2010

It’s for us all ...

Even your mum is friending you on Facebook!
..  And impacts on every part of our lives

1 in 6 marriages 
that occurred last 
year, were between 
couples who met 
via social media

Source: “What the F*ck is Social Media Now?,” by Marta Kagan, Nespresso
And for businesses too

54% SMBs use social 
media to promote their 
business

Source: www.forbes.com
.. With increasing revenue spent on social media

UK social marketing spend 
expected to reach €83M 
in 2010 (55% increase vs. 2008)

Source: Forrester Social Media Forecast April 2010

Social Media is everywhere ...
 Consumers like the same websites, but for different 
needs
Q Thinking about where you go to find out information about products, brands and services.
Which of the following websites are you likely to visit to ...

Websites  Trusted for  For forums/ 

for... Finding information recommendations discussions
Google 79% 42% 17%
Amazon  44% 44% 15%
Wikipedia 31% 9% 6%
bbc.co.uk 26% 19% 17%
Yahoo  20% 13% 10%
Facebook 10% 8% 34%
MSN 10% 5% 9%
YouTube 10% 4% 10%
Twitter 2% 1% 7%

Base: 1047 British adults, August 2010

 The internet is....

Q Please type in .. the first 3 words that come to mind when thinking about how you would
describe the internet.

Base: 1047 British adults, 124 British adults aged 18-24, August 2010
 .. but is more fun & social for 18‐24s

Q To what extent do you agree .. that the Internet is..? (Rating 8-10)

89%
Useful
92%

88%
Informative % All adults
87%

70% % 18-24 yr olds

Entertaining
79%

68%
Fun
78%

54%
Social
77%

Base: 1047 British adults, 124 British adults aged 18-24, August 2010 Source: Ipsos MORI
Social sites are destination sites for 18‐24s

18‐24s are most likely 
to first visit social 
networking sites when 
logging on to the web

Source: Ipsos MORI

 Sites not traditionally associated with social 
networking are also viewed as social

1 in 5 view bbc.co.uk
as highly social 
(rating 8‐10 out of 10)

30% of daily 
bbc.co.uk users 
would be happy to 
engage in a forum on 
the site

Q To what extent do you agree that bbc.co.uk is social?

Base: 1047 British adults, August 2010 Source: Ipsos MORI
 Using the internet is in itself a social activity

70% Occasionally
Regularly
59% Always
56%
43% 42% 42% 41%
34% 31%
22%
32% 29%
20% 16% 16%
12%
9% 9% 10%
7% 8% 7%
2% 2%
YouTube Facebook MySpace Flickr Twitter MSN

Q How often, if at all, do you tend to look at websites together with others?
Base: all past month users, August 2010 Source: Ipsos MORI
 ... and particularly for 18‐24s

All adults
Aged 18-24

77%
70% 68%
62%
59% 56%
56% 55%
49% 49% 48% 45%
41%
37%

YouTube Facebook eBay Google Amazon MSN Yahoo

Q How often, if at all, do you tend to look at websites together with others?
Base: all past month users, August 2010 Source: Ipsos MORI
 18‐24s are as likely to be on social networks as out with 
friends

71% ‐ Staying in and talking to friends / family
65% ‐ Going out with friends and family
All adults
44% ‐ Chatting via social networks with friends / family

87% ‐ Staying in and talking to 
friends / family

18‐24 year olds 77% ‐ Going out with friends and 

family

78% ‐ Chatting via social networks 
with friends / family

Base: 1047 British adults, 124 British adults aged 18-24, Online representative sample, August 2010 Source: Ipsos MORI
 18‐24s do more of everything! And multi‐task!

Q Which if any of the following have you done in the past week?
(Average number of mentions)

Base: 1047 British adults, 124 British adults aged 18-24, August 2010 Source: Ipsos MORI
 Those with mobile internet are particularly social

Source: Ipsos MORI

Base: 1047 British adults, 233 British adults who use a mobile /PDA to access the internet, August 2010
 There is a high degree of trust in online sources if 
they are from like‐minded people
% Low (1-4) % Mid (5-7) % High (8-10)

Review website 12 37 42

Reviews on a blog 19 42 27

Reviews on a social networking

22 39 26
site from people you know

Newspaper reviews 19 48 25

A TV ad 34 42 14

Q How would you rate the trust you have in the following?

Base: 1047 British adults, August 2010 Source: Ipsos MORI

 1 in 5 18 ‐24 year olds has liked a product/brand
Q Have you done any of the following in the past month?

13% % All adults

Liked a product / brand on Facebook
21%
% 18-24 yr olds

Watched video / ad about a product / 11%

brand on YouTube 15%

All adults
Become a fan of a product / brand on 10%
Net: any Facebook activity 22%
Facebook 15% Net: any YouTube activity 12%

18-24s
7% Net: any Facebook activity 32%
Liked a video / ad by a product /
Net: any YouTube activity 18%
brand on Facebook 13%

Recommended a product / brand on 6%

Facebook 6%

Base: 1047 British adults, 124 British adults aged 18-24, August 2010
 And these are not just existing customers

We asked people how well they know the brands whose videos they share
or who they ‘Like’?

70% know well 65% know well

42% are a customer of 40% are a customer of

2,217 respondents who look at brand content on each site Source: OTX2
9
Sharing ads and “liking” brands increases affinity

3 in 4 people say this 
impacts how they feel 
about the brand

Q6e/Q6ee. Sample = 1,426 & 1,878 users of YouTube & Facebook respectively who have shared brand videos/’liked’ a brand Source: OTX
 Recommendations  impact behaviour

1/3 of users act upon 
recommendations

Base: all past month users, August 2010 Source: Ipsos MORI
Social media campaigns are an opportunity...
..to engage consumers with your brand
..any brand!
..and work across platforms
 People want to talk to you but:
Of those contacting brands....
69% were satisfied with the response
14% were dissatisfied

8% received no response at all

Base: n=84 British adults who have contacted a brand/company via a social networking site, August 2010 Source: Ipsos MORI
What we really want is...

Separation!
Imagine you could create the perfect social networking site for the future. What would it look like and what features would it have?
Base: 1047 British adults, August 2010 Source: Ipsos MORI37
In summary

1 Social media extends beyond networking sites

2 Brand interactions on social media count

3 You can reach new audiences

Looking forward, consumers want more closed 
4 networks
Thank you!