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Social Media Perspective: Are We What They’re Searching for?

August 11, 2008 by Liz 15 Comments

The Bigger Picture

The Living Web

As I get further on the quest to reconnect with the concrete world, I’ve gained new perspective. I’ve come to see that the problems worth solving are older, more familiar, and more interesting than the problems caused by the Internet.

Social media is important. The participatory culture is changing the very nature of human relationships. But that change is barely a glimpse. It hasn’t happened yet.

A little perspective: In a PEW Internet and American Life Project report released August 6th, Deborah Fallows offered some stunning research that might ground things.

Almost half of all internet users now use search engines on a typical day

PEW Chart of Daily Internet Activities

Email 60%
Online search 49%
Check news 39%
Check weather 30%
Research hobby 29%
Surf web for fun 29%
Visit social networking site 13%

30% of Internet Users are offline on a typical day.

The report explains that searchers are likely to have some college education, incomes over $50K, and are more likely to be men (53%) than women (45%). 58% of those with broadband at home search daily, while only 26% with dial-up search that often. The age ranges breakdown like this:

18 – 29 years 55%
30 – 49 years 54%
50 – 64 years 40%
65 years and older 27%

Explanations are given in the report.

Participation is big in our tiny corner of the Internet it’s not big in every person’s life. The participatory culture is hardly on the radar for most human beings. They’re not near here yet.

Few folks care about another fix for Twitter. Life goes on for most humans without a thought to a dashboard for organizing social networking sites. In the world of human problems, all of social media and social networking issues are a tiny dot.

Social Media Market Problems

Real people still have real problems — the kind that social media folks ALSO have. Social tools and social strategies that solve those problems are worth something.

Meanwhile, real people are searching . . . are we what they’re searching for?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Chart: via PEW, hat tip to Clickz

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Filed Under: Marketing /Sales / Social Media, Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, Customer Strategy, PEW report on Search Engine Use, Search

Comments

  1. Karen Swim says

    August 11, 2008 at 11:28 AM

    Liz, thanks for putting this in perspective. I had a conversation with a fellow marketer about this on Friday. I commented on how many “traditional” marketers don’t know and could care less about “online marketing gurus” and methods and vice versa. Both groups have shared interests and I see value in embracing the whole of marketing implementing ideas and techniques from traditional and new media. To your point, I am always brought back to reality when I go to church, a family gathering or am just in a “regular” group of people. Online to most means search engines, and email!

    Reply
  2. ME Liz Strauss says

    August 11, 2008 at 12:31 PM

    Hi Karen,
    I’ll be glad when we quit reliving days gone by when we taught “computer” in the way some are teaching “social media.” Successful folks are using the tools to build businesses and solve problems.

    Reply
  3. Nancy Sutherland says

    August 11, 2008 at 1:55 PM

    This is a very informative article. There is so much information right on everyone’s fingertips at any given time. I am amazed that it crosses generations- not really age specific. It’s better than living in a library or having the best set of encylopedias. The search capacity to find anything at all is incredible!

    Reply
  4. Keli Whidden says

    August 11, 2008 at 6:27 PM

    Very powerful reminder to look away from the screen once in a while, thanks Liz 🙂

    Reply
  5. lou suSi says

    August 11, 2008 at 11:00 PM

    i wonder how many of the search engine results derived from ‘human problems’ point to social media resources … blogs or other info shared using a social networking site

    Reply
  6. Writer Dad says

    August 11, 2008 at 11:24 PM

    We are all at the beginning of something new.

    Reply
  7. LaurenMarie - Creative Curio says

    August 12, 2008 at 12:28 PM

    Thanks for the perspective and reminder, Liz. I like what you said in your response to Karen, too, that after the hype dies down, social media will just be another way to connect and get the word out, like the telephone and TV before it.

    Reply
  8. ME Liz Strauss says

    August 12, 2008 at 1:31 PM

    Hi Nancy,
    It’s amazing the information we have access to, isn’t it? Somedays it’s overwhelming.

    Reply
  9. ME Liz Strauss says

    August 12, 2008 at 1:32 PM

    Hi Keli,
    Yeah, once in a while, we have to remember that not everyone is us.

    Reply
  10. ME Liz Strauss says

    August 12, 2008 at 1:33 PM

    Hi lou suSi,
    I wonder the same thing. 🙂

    Reply
  11. ME Liz Strauss says

    August 12, 2008 at 1:34 PM

    Yeah, Writer Dad, and we’re pretty full of the infatuation that comes with new things. 🙂

    Reply
  12. ME Liz Strauss says

    August 12, 2008 at 1:36 PM

    LaurenMarie!
    I’m thinking that exactly. Once we get over it as a new thing, we’ll be able to use it as a tool.

    Reply
  13. Brent Leary says

    August 13, 2008 at 4:18 PM

    Hi Liz,

    I think many who are entrenched in the social media world forget that the vast majority of people function outside of it.

    Social media tools, strategies and terminologies (blogging, podcasting, twitter, etc.) probably sound crazy and childish to some. But it shouldn’t stop people from exploring how social media can positively impact them. And those entrenched in social media should try to make it easier for “social outsiders” to “get it”. More participation should be better for all of us.

    Thanks for sharing this great information!

    Reply
  14. ME Liz Strauss says

    August 14, 2008 at 9:22 PM

    Hi Brent,
    Once we get done playing with our new toys. We’ll know how to use them to reach out with. I’m sure of it. 🙂

    Reply

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