Recent Survey Reveals Importance of Social Media in Everyday Living

If you run a small business and you don’t yet have a presence on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin, a recent study may persuade you to finally do something about it.

Before I give you the details of the study, there is another very important consideration most people and businesses fail to recognize or at least often overlook about how social-media is rapidly replacing the older less mobile modes of communication.

Here’s what I mean… so far this year we have seen earthquakes and tsunamis, cyclones, heavy rains and flooding, and most recently hurricane Irene causing tremendous damage on the east coast of the United States.

I found it very interesting that for each and every one of these major events, the source of information for me and countless others has not been the television, radio or newspapers, but social media.

It’s no surprise considering so many people now rely on social media to live their lives.  It’s where we interact with each other, spend our money, get information and do business,  In fact, every major television network has a Twitter feed and a Facebook page so you can get up-to-the-minute news and weather.

According to Princeton Survey Research Associates International, 65% of all U.S. adults now use social-media networking sites.  That’s 4% higher than just a year ago.

Most of this growth came from Americans over the age of 30, with seniors accounting for most of it. One-third of adults ages 65 and older say they now use social-media sites, compared to just 26% just a year ago.  The younger generations still remain the biggest group tapping social networks today accounting for 83% of all users.

On any given day, 43% of U.S. adults said they visit sites like Twitter and Facebook.  That’s up from 38% a year ago. Compared with other online activities, most said they only use email and search engines more frequently than social media.

So if you have a small business and you are not using social-media, what’s holding you back? If you are using it, how much effort are you putting into it and is it paying off?

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