by: Matt Rhodes
Two-thirds of the world’s entire online population have visited ‘Member communities’, including social networks, online communities and blogs, according to Nielsen’s Global Faces and Networked Places report. This places social networks and online communities as the fourth most popular category of online activities, ahead of personal email.
Other statistics also support the growth and importance of these sites, with time spent on site growing at three times the rate for overall internet use. Now one out of every eleven minutes spent online worldwide is spent on an online community or social network. In the UK, this figure is one out of every six minutes spent online.
There are many reasons for the shift from email to social networks and online communities. On a very structural level, many of these sites offer inboxes through which people can communicate either with their network of connections (in social networks) or with people who share similar interests or are working on a similar issue (in online communities). So people may be using multiple inboxes - each for different purposes and some of these actually social networks and online communities rather than traditional email providers.
On a behavioural level, however, this data reflects a shift in the way we use the internet to communicate. Email used to be the way that we communicated and, to some extent, it was using the internet to do a very traditional process (sending mail) using this new medium. But as our use of online has changed, we are now not just doing old things in new ways but doing completely new things. We can connect and stay connected with friends and contacts like never before; and we can find and share common experiences and discussions with people we might not even know. In this environment it is unsurprising that social networks and online communities have overtaken email. These sites allow us to communicate and share ideas with people based on connections (direct or indirect) we have with them or interests we share in common.
With email we need to know and remember addresses, it’s very much an old way of communicating using new means. With social networks we can communicate with people directly through our networks and with online communities we can communicate with people who are interested in the same things as us. They allow us to do new things, and do them in new way.
Some more reading
Original Post: http://blog.freshnetworks.com/2009/03/social-networks-and-online-communities-more-popular-than-email/
This blog reflects the personal opinions of individual contributors and does not represent the views of Futurelab, Futurelab's clients, or the contributors' respective employers or clients.
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On the Money says:
11 Mar 2009, 02:42
Hmmmnn. Interesting post but one must remember that most of the increase will be in the form of moronic exchanges between individuals rather than business communications. Thanks for the insightful post!
8-)
Stefanie Hartman says:
11 Mar 2009, 00:58
This doesn't surprise me one bit. These days who doesn't have a Facebook and/or Twitter account?
ME Digital says:
11 Mar 2009, 01:06
Itâs true, social networks and communities are becoming more popular than email. The social networks can get you in contact with a lot of people who share the same interests, ideas and the same vision. You can get a discussion going, ask for opinions and find information on every topic! These networks and communities give you many more options than just send out an email and wait for a response. I think/know it will be a big part in the future of communication.
Marketing Eye Digital
Lisa Quinn says:
11 Mar 2009, 20:38
Users are looking for a more personal connection to other members within a community, rather than an inbox. This is really just reinforcing the change of online trends, not necessarily a bad thing either. One must consider, however, where we are headed. Social networks are now above email; one would not believe this trend would occur five years ago. What will keep users faithful to one type of media over another? Check out how, eZanga.com, a search engine that specializes in pay-per-click advertising, has revamped social networking with their recently launched site, www.HopOnThis.com. Integrated rewards possibly the next best thing in the social media sphere?
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