Conan O'Brien is the Future
First, the most important thing to remember about statistics is that 32% of them are wrong, and we’re 67% sure of that. Bearing that in mind, there are some trends in social media that pique our interest.
Overall, time spent on social networking sites in the US is up 83%* this year. While MySpace has declined, Facebook and Twitter have seen substantial growth. In our own anecdotal research, we see teen use of Twitter growing very quickly. Just this past Friday, both Princess Protection and the acronym PPP reached “top 5″ for Twitter trending. Princess Protection Program is a Disney Channel Original Movie.** And Demi Lovato, the star of PPP, is receiving the 2nd-most tweets of anyone on Twitter as of Monday (Ashton Kutcher is in a distant 8th place).***
With 99% of 18-24 year olds maintaining an active profile on at least one social network, it’s clear social networks are here to stay. Here are a few final statistics we found interesting in our research:
- 38% of college kids surveyed said they have an iPhone or iPod Touch
- 29% of teenagers said they “friended” a company or brand
- 53% of marketers said they would increase their investment in social media in 2009
Lastly, Conan O’Brien may have inadvertently struck on the future of social networking when he joked that in the year 3000 we’d all be checking “youtwitface.” As the number of social networks grows, we expect more tools and technologies to aggregate and help keep track of them all. So for now, we’re keeping an eye on Conan O’Brien.
*SOURCE: Nielsen NetView
**SOURCE: TweetStats.com
***If you haven’t heard of Princess Protection, ask any 12-year-old.
