YouTube gets 81 million views a month in the US alone. The demographics of YouTube users were surprising similar to that of Facebook. However, I haven’t heard any reports of a growing number of baby boomer users like Facebook.
Twitter has probably seen the fastest amount of growth. Between March and May, it was reported that Twitter doubled its users, reaching 23 million users. Also, Twitter’s users seem to be evenly split between household income brackets.
“$0 to 30k : 22%, 30 to 60k : 28%, 60 to 100k : 23%, 100k+ : 27%”
Final Thoughts
The most interesting thing I found about social network demographics is that every site is almost split 50/50 between male and female users.
Another thing that I haven’t been able to wrap my head around yet, is that even though most social networks had a thriving population of users between the ages 18 and 34, most of the websites have not been profitable. This seems nonsensical since that age range is typically a marketers ideal demographic. I’m sure with Twitter’s recent 1 Billion dollar valuation and with Facebook finally earning a profit, that we are well on our way to learning how to monetize social networks.
Over the past 2 years Jim MacMillan, a Pulitzer Prize Winning photojournalist, has gained quite a following by blogging, sharing his photos, and using social networks such as Twitter. In that short amount of time, he has gained over 14,000 followers on Twitter and stays connected with almost 500 people on Facebook.
This type of marketing is amazing considering the organic nature of what Jim has done compared with how much money businesses are spending on social networks. For instance,
The reason for the shift in organic marketing is probably due to:
…entertainment used to be watching TV or buying movie tickets…That shift is a desire to connect with the artist and to support [him or her] directly.
By being connected with the brand personally, consumers often become evangilists for the brand, just like friends and family members support each other. With over 200 million users on a social network, the numbers add up quickly and reciprocation can be amazing.
It is obvious businesses are getting comfortable using social networks to promote their brands. However, companies are still trying to figure out which social networks to use and how to use them.
According to Abrams Research 32% of “media leaders” say that they would pay for Facebook, given the choice of purchasing a single social network. However, when asked which social network you should pay for, Twitter beats Facebook at 39%.
In May 2009, 2 major trendy furniture stores opened in Tampa, Florida - Ikea and Crate & Barrel. According to the May 4th, 2009 issue of the Tampa Tribune, Ikea’s Facebook page members far outnumbered Crate & Barrel’s 228,186 to 2,681. However, this number makes sense since the average age of Facebook users is closer to Ikea’s average customer age than Crate & Barrel’s.
Web surfers can now send virtual postcards of Pope Benedict XVI to their Facebook friends or follow the pontiff’s travel on their iPhones.
Under a papacy that has suffered communication woes, the Vatican is taking new, technologically savvy steps to bring its message to social networking sites and smartphones.
In its first day of operation Thursday, the Pope2You portal gathered some 45,000 contacts and 500,000 page views, while a Facebook application that sends postcards with photos of Benedict and excerpts from his messages was used around 10,000 times, the head of the project said.
Also available on the portal is an application for iPhone and iPod Touch that gives surfers video and audio news on the pope’s trips and speeches, as well as on Catholic events worldwide.
The new Web site is the latest update in the Vatican’s efforts to broaden the pope’s audience and reach out to young people. In January, Benedict got his own YouTube channel, which is now linked to the portal.
Some may think that only large brands, such as Ikea, Coco-Cola, and Snickers with cult-like followings have a use for social networking. However, the stories below prove otherwise. Small business does have a use for social networking - and if done correctly, can increase revenue.
Free Spirit Yacht Cruises
Despite a poor economy Free Spirit Yacht Cruises’ revenue is up 30% from last year. The co-owner, Angela Motola-Donofrio, feels that the increase in sales is due to the company reaching out to customers on the social networks Facebook and Twitter.
BradsDeals.com
BradsDeals.com didn’t see a need to get involved in Social Networking until the company founder read on Nielsen Online that the greatest growth in age on Social Networks are ages 35 - 49. Since March 1, 2009 “the company has attracted 2,500 followers through Twitter … and nabbed 1,200 Facebook users …”
The Scion Group
This real estate agency that targets college students recently used Facebook to announce a student designs fashion show. Because of the Facebook announcement, the show drew a more people than the venue could handle.
Microsoft recently showed off the cool things that could be done with the new Facebook API’s “Open Stream” technology. Although there is no way for us to try the new technology yet, according to the article, “…Microsoft will be releasing an SDK and the source code for both of the apps in the near future.”
From the article:
Earlier this week Facebook made the landmark (and long-awaited) announcement that it was going to enable the “Open Stream“, granting developers far more access and flexibility to Facebook data than they had before. To commemorate the event, Facebook held a special Technology Tasting at its Palo Alto office, where it gave everyone an idea of exactly what developers could do with the new data.
