Comments on: Pew on Social Media: It’s Bigger than You Think http://www.contentious.com/2009/01/27/pew-on-social-media-its-bigger-than-you-think/ Amy Gahran's news and musings on how we communicate in the online age. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:36:42 +0000 hourly 1 By: Mediablogi - links for 2009-01-31 http://www.contentious.com/2009/01/27/pew-on-social-media-its-bigger-than-you-think/comment-page-1/#comment-1226337 Mediablogi - links for 2009-01-31 Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:00:51 +0000 http://www.contentious.com/?p=2346#comment-1226337 [...]   Pew on Social Media: It’s Bigger than You Think  Pwe Internetin selvitys aikuisista sosiaalisissa verkostoissa. "The share of adult Internet users who have a profile on an online social network site hasmore than quadrupled in the past four years — from eight percent in 2005 to 35 percent now" (tags: internet socialmedia) « links for 2009-01-29 [...] [...]   Pew on Social Media: It’s Bigger than You Think  Pwe Internetin selvitys aikuisista sosiaalisissa verkostoissa. "The share of adult Internet users who have a profile on an online social network site hasmore than quadrupled in the past four years — from eight percent in 2005 to 35 percent now" (tags: internet socialmedia) « links for 2009-01-29 [...]

]]> By: Amy Gahran http://www.contentious.com/2009/01/27/pew-on-social-media-its-bigger-than-you-think/comment-page-1/#comment-1226323 Amy Gahran Wed, 28 Jan 2009 01:43:42 +0000 http://www.contentious.com/?p=2346#comment-1226323 Greg, I'm pretty sure this research addresses the usage issue... And, as I noted, their oddly narrow definition of social media probably drastically underestimates the situation. - Amy Gahran Greg, I’m pretty sure this research addresses the usage issue… And, as I noted, their oddly narrow definition of social media probably drastically underestimates the situation.

- Amy Gahran

]]> By: Greg Bulmash http://www.contentious.com/2009/01/27/pew-on-social-media-its-bigger-than-you-think/comment-page-1/#comment-1226322 Greg Bulmash Wed, 28 Jan 2009 01:39:05 +0000 http://www.contentious.com/?p=2346#comment-1226322 The question is how many of those adults actively maintain their social site profiles or just signed up for one because they were told it's the thing to do? I haven't logged onto my MySpace page for months. My Facebook page and LinkedIn pages normally lay dormant for weeks at a time. I end up on news sites more often than I do social networking sites. Adults with profiles is not a good measure of usage. Adults who use these sites for communicating with friends and/or business associates more than once a week would be a much more important measure. Social media is important for kids, but a lot of adults are there because they think they should be, not because they're necessarily digging on it. Disney doesn't make its theme park money off people who've *been* to Disneyland. It makes its money off people who *go* to Disneyland. Newspapers are beholden to 73-year-old print subscribers who threaten to drop their subscriptions every time the paper tries to do something they don't like. So they keep on letting that market dictate their policies while it slowly dies off, and then they find that while they were playing yes men to senior citizens, all the kids who felt underserved by their grandparents' newspaper went somewhere else and can't be lured back. The question is how many of those adults actively maintain their social site profiles or just signed up for one because they were told it’s the thing to do? I haven’t logged onto my MySpace page for months. My Facebook page and LinkedIn pages normally lay dormant for weeks at a time. I end up on news sites more often than I do social networking sites.

Adults with profiles is not a good measure of usage. Adults who use these sites for communicating with friends and/or business associates more than once a week would be a much more important measure.

Social media is important for kids, but a lot of adults are there because they think they should be, not because they’re necessarily digging on it.

Disney doesn’t make its theme park money off people who’ve *been* to Disneyland. It makes its money off people who *go* to Disneyland.

Newspapers are beholden to 73-year-old print subscribers who threaten to drop their subscriptions every time the paper tries to do something they don’t like. So they keep on letting that market dictate their policies while it slowly dies off, and then they find that while they were playing yes men to senior citizens, all the kids who felt underserved by their grandparents’ newspaper went somewhere else and can’t be lured back.

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