â–¶ Social Scene Cluttered: A Forrester study finds that 80% of U.S. “netizens” now utilize social networking channels—equivalent to the penetration of DVD players. Forrester believes that this usage has “plateaued,” and communicators must find innovative solutions to stand out in the “cluttered” social media environment. Other study findings include:
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• The average Facebook member boasts 135 friends, which rises to 220 among 18-30-year-olds, while Twitter recorded a median score of 77 followers—96 for 31-44-year-olds.
• Prioritizing “mass influencers” online, Forrester broke them down into two distinct categories: “mass connectors,” comprising 6.2% of the online population, will create 80% of the 256 billion impressions concerning goods and services on social networks this year.
• “Mass mavens,” some 13.4% of Web users, deliver content about products through interactive channels like YouTube, blogs and forums, generating 80% of 1.64 billion such posts.
Source: Forrester
â–¶ Sustainability Vital: An Accenture sustainability survey of 766 CEOs finds that 93% viewed environmental matters as critical to their company’s success. Other findings include:
• 96% suggested ecological issues should be “fully embedded” into strategy and operations, and 78% thought “multi-stakeholder partnerships” could help achieve development goals.
• 76% of CEOs stated the recession had resulted in sustainability becoming increasingly integral to organizational objectives.
• Less favorably, 49% of chief executives had experienced obstacles implementing related initiatives across various functions, and 49% complained of competing priorities.
• For 72%, sustainability enhanced brand perception, trust and reputation, while 44% cited a positive role in revenue growth or cost reduction, and 39% mentioned consumer demand as stimulating action.
Source: Accenture
â–¶ Web Searchers Tenacious: A study by ROI Research finds that 89% of Web searchers will modify their search and try again if at first they don’t succeed.
Other findings include:
• 79% will try a different search engine, and half are more likely to click on a search result if it includes an image or if a company/brand appears multiple times on the results page.
• More than three-quarters of respondents say they use search to learn more about a product or service after seeing an ad elsewhere.
• Nearly two-thirds of respondents are aware of the difference between natural and sponsored search results.
Source: ROI Research