102

Social Media Activity

Social media activity creates scalable ways to connect and tap into knowledge flowsIntroductionHundreds of millions of people around the world are online and a significant portion of them are engaged in trying to enrich both personal and business relationships. As more and more people use the Internet, the ability for individuals to easily find and communicate with others around common interests, regardless of geography, continues to reshape and transform the way knowledge flows. Social media sites, the virtual communities within Internet Web sites, organize these interests and enable participants to connect and exchange information using a variety of tools: email, voice, chat, instant messages, videoconference, blogs, etc. Because it supports and organizes information sharing and rich interaction, social media is an important amplifier of knowledge flows and thus an essential metric in the Shift Index.

Society has embraced social media as a means of expression and a creative outlet, while technological advancements have allowed social media platforms to serve as catalysts for open innovation. The use of social media will continue to be driven by societal as well as technological changes. The increasing amount of time spent on social media as a percentage of time spent on the Internet reflects how the World Wide Web is evolving into

a network of people as much as a network of information. This network is changing how people connect and interact with one another, blurring the lines between personal and professional, and forcing business leaders to rethink how best to engage employees and consumers.

Observations and ImplicationsConsumption of social media has exploded in the past few years. The average number of daily visitors on social networking sites doubled from 46M per month in 2007 to nearly 90M per month in 2011.118 Similarly, the total minutes spent by U.S. users on social networking sites grew 236%, from 25B in 2007 to 59B in 2011.

The growth in social media activity is the direct result of both the technological changes (discussed elsewhere in this report) that have made the Internet more widely accessible and changing social behaviors. Every month, more than 250 million people engage with Facebook on external Web sites and more than 2.5 million Web sites integrate with Facebook.119 Mobility has also had a huge impact, giving individuals the ability to check in anywhere, anytime, on social media. More broadly, social media platforms have spurred new technologies, including blogs, picture sharing, vlogs, wall postings, email, instant messaging,

118 comScore and Deloitte analysis119 http://www.facebook.com/press/

info.php?statistics120 comScore and Deloitte analysis

2011 Flow Index

© 2011 Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

Exhibit 75: % of Internet time spent on Social Media, (2007-2010)

Source: comScore, Deloitte analysis

Social Media 1

Updated

7.4%

14.4%

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

2007 2008 2009 2010

Per

cent

age

of in

tern

et ti

me

spen

t on

soci

al m

edia

Time Spent on Social Media

74

Exhibit 75: Percentage of Internet time spent on Social Media (2007-2010)120

The Social Media Activity metric measures how many minutes Internet users spend on social media Web sites relative to the total minutes they spend on the Internet.

The metric is a proxy for two- and multiple-way communication, which amplifies knowledge flows by offering the ability to collaborate.

Source: comScore, Deloitte analysis

2011 Shift Index Measuring the forces of long-term change 103

Tab

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e H

ere

musicsharing, crowd sourcing, and VOIP, to name a few. These technologies amplify knowledge flows by making them richer and more personalized.

A recent study by iStrategylabs indicates growth in users across all age groups. Between 2010 and 2011, the 18-24 age group showed the highest growth on social networking site, Facebook, with a 74% increase. Surprisingly, the second highest growth came from the 55+ age group, with a 59% increase in users.121 A separate study of penetration rates across age groups indicates that while the younger generation (below 24 years of age) built critical mass on social networking sites first, continued growth is now coming from the older age groups.122

The online individual is no longer a passive bystander. A report published by Forrester Research in 2010 used a

ladder to illustrate the concept of Social Technographics® (benchmarking consumers by their level of participation in social computing)— the higher the rung, the more involved the participation (see Exhibit 76). According to Forrester, U.S. consumers people are playing an increasingly active role in their social media experience as creators — writing blogs, making Web pages and updating content — as indicated by increases from 2007 to 2010 in all “rungs” except for “inactives” (those who do not participate in social media at all). The number of “inactives” decreased from 44% in 2007 to 19% in 2010 (see Exhibit 77) and we expect this trend to continue.

As social media becomes more pervasive, companies are making social media an integral part of their relationship with consumers, employees, and other stakeholders. Forrester estimated that $716M was spent in social media

© 2011 Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

Exhibit 76: Social Technographics Ladder

Source: Forrester Research Inc.

Groups include customers participating in at least one of the indicated activities at least monthly

Critics

Collectors

Joiners

Spectators

Inactives

• Publish a blog• Publish your own Web pages• Upload video you created• Upload audio/music you created• Write articles or stories and post them

• Post ratings/reviews of products or services• Comment on someone else’s blog• Contribute to online forums• Contribute to/edit articles in a wiki

• Use RSS feeds• “Vote” for Web sites online• Add “tags” to Web pages or photos

• Maintain profile on a social networking site• Visit social networking sites

• Read blogs• Listen to podcasts• Watch video from other users• Read online forums• Read customer ratings/reviews

• None of the above

Creators

Conversation-alists

• Update status on social networking site• Post updates on Twitter

Social Media 2

No Updates Needed

75

121 “71% of All U.S. Web Users are On Facebook” http://www.allfacebook.com/71-percent-of-u-s-web-users-are-on-facebook-2011-01?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+allfacebook+%28Facebook+Blog%29

122 http://www.bzzagent.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Pew-older-adults1.png

Exhibit 76: Social Technographics Ladder

2011

Flo

w In

dex

Source: Forrester Research Inc.

104

Tab Title Here

In 2009, CareOne already knew that its online community of 1.4 million people was a valuable source of information. The debt relief company wanted to explore social media channels to further develop its relationships with these customers. “Our primary goal with social media was customer retention,” said team leader Nichole Kelly. But the team soon realized that many of the online community members were

prospective customers who needed help rather than existing customers and a larger opportunity was at hand. The team retooled its social media plan to reach out to these potential customers.124

Kelly discovered that the personal connection generated through social media contact had a tremendous impact on the company’s core metrics. Although the social media prospects had a longer buying cycle (24-28 days versus as low as 30 minutes), there was an incredible jump in successful conversions through the sign-up process and ultimately the point of purchase. The volume of leads generated was 179% higher, and social media customers were 217% more likely to make their first payment. For one particular problem area (people who partially fill out the sign-up form then quit), social media prospects went back and completed the form 680% more often than non-social media leads. The social media prospects also made their first payment at an astonishing 732% better rate.

Core Metrics Creating New Value

123 http://webbiquity.com/social-media-marketing/best-social-media-stats-facts-and-marketing-research-of-2010/

124 Case Study: Social Media Customers Are More Valuable Customers. Social Media Explorer. http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-customer-value/

2011 Flow Index

marketing in 2010 and expects it to reach $3.1B by 2014, making social media a bigger channel than email or mobile, though still far smaller than search or display advertising. Among global Fortune 100 companies: 65% use Twitter, 54% are on Facebook, and 50% post videos to YouTube. Seventy-nine% of the Fortune 100 use at least one of these social media sites and 20% use all of them.123

As the lines between networks blur and internal and external audiences interact together on social media, employees need some guidance and governance on how

to appropriately participate in knowledge flows. Companies must at least prescribe appropriate protocols for sharing information. However, the true value of social media for companies lies in their ability to use social media to find new ways to interact with consumers. Collaboration marketing, for example, focuses on developing a company’s ability to attract (create incentives for people to seek you out), assist (be as helpful and engaging as possible), and affiliate (mobilize and leverage third parties).

© 2011 Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

Exhibit 76: Social Technographics profile of U.S online adults, (2009)

18%21%

24%

200720082009

Creators

25%37%37%

200720082009

Critics

12%19%20%

200720082009

Collectors

25%35%

59%

200720082009

Joiners

48%69%70%

200720082009

Spectators

44%25%

17%

200720082009

Inactives

Source: Forrester Research Inc.

33%

200720082009

Conversa-tionalist

Social Media 3 –coming from JL

Not Updated

76

Exhibit 77: Social Technographics profile of U.S online adults (2009)

Source: Forrester Research Inc.