Jon Gibs, VP Media Analytics
In the beginning there were ISPs, which then gave way to portals ― aggregators of content and links ― which then led to the rise of “search” as the dominant form of Internet navigation or, how we get to where we we’re going on the web. However, as with most forms of evolution, change is constant, and over the past two years search navigation has appeared to shift to social media.
We continue to see that social media has not only changed the way consumers communicate and gather on the Web, but also impacted content discovery and navigation in a big way. But how? Is social media taking the place of portals and search as the hub of online navigation?
These questions led to some in-depth research – including an online panel survey of 1,800 participants fielded in August 2009 – in which we looked at three main consumer segments using search (Searchers), portals (Portalists) or social media (Socializers) as their primary vehicle for content discovery.
What We Found
In a nutshell, there is a segment of the online population that uses social media as a core navigation and information discovery tool — roughly 18 percent of users see it as core to finding new information. While still a smaller percentage than those who use search engines or portals like Yahoo! or MSN, it is a significant figure. And as social media usage continues to increase (unique visitors to Twitter.com increased 959% YOY in August) I can only expect this figure to grow.
The appeal of Social Media
At the root of the changing nature of content discovery is the sheer amount of information that is available on the Web. If you want to learn more about the latest smartphone released into the market, your favorite search engine is sure to provide you with hundreds, if not thousands, of articles about the device. But with the increasing number of resources available, it’s difficult to know what you should believe or take at face value. Socializers – those who spend 10 percent or more of their online time on social media – feel this effect more than others do. When asked, 26 percent feel that there is too much information available on the Internet, compared to 18 percent of people who predominantly use portals and just 5 percent of people who primarily use search engines.
But why does too much information lead one to use social media as a navigation tool? The short answer: Socializers trust what their friends have to say and social media acts as an information filtration tool. This is key because Socializers gravitate towards and believe what is shared with friends and family. If your friend creates or links to the content, then you are more likely to believe it and like it. And this thought plays out in the data.
We saw the power of opinions posted online in our global study earlier this year about trust in advertising, and the point came up again in our recent findings. Social media is becoming a core product research channel. Almost 15 percent of Socializers most trusted information they found on blogs when researching new purchases online, while nearly 20 percent trusted most the information they found on message boards.
So are social networks replacing portals or search engines? Perhaps. Regardless, if we don’t understand and address people feeling increasingly alienated by the amount of information on the Internet, and the need for a human guide, yes, your favorite social network (or something like it) will become the next great content gateway.
For more, join me for our webinar The Evolution of Content Discovery on Tuesday, October 6 (2PM ET)
[...] http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/social-media-the-next-great-gateway-for-content-di... [...]
[...] Nielsen reports at its blog in a post from Jon Gibbs, VP Media Analytics In the beginning there were ISPs, which then gave way to portals ― aggregators of content and links ― which then led to the rise of “search” as the dominant form of Internet navigation or, how we get to where we we’re going on the web. However, as with most forms of evolution, change is constant, and over the past two years search navigation has appeared to shift to social media. [...]
[...] Nielsen reports at its blog in a post from Jon Gibbs, VP Media Analytics In the beginning there were ISPs, which then gave way to portals ― aggregators of content and links ― which then led to the rise of “search” as the dominant form of Internet navigation or, how we get to where we we’re going on the web. However, as with most forms of evolution, change is constant, and over the past two years search navigation has appeared to shift to social media. [...]
[...] Apparently 9% of internet users are like me – Going to Wikipedia first to discover content. A report from Nielsen shows the following ways as being the most [...]
[...] offers a blog post that shows the various ways that people discover content online. Search is at the top, [...]
Did you know hat some people usual Social Media to search?…
Nielsen Social Media Search Data
From the Back to the Future Dept – Nielsen finds that:
In a nutshell, there is a segment of the online population that uses social media as a core navigation and information discovery tool — roughly 18 percent of …
The future of the internet is honest blogs,
Search engines are exploiters and see only the money in the net !
[...] Nielsen: The Great new Gateway for Content Discovery [...]
[...] has shared some interesting findings from its research on how Internet users discover content. The research mainly focused on how [...]
FTA: “But why does too much information lead one to use social media as a navigation tool? The short answer: Socializers trust what their friends have to say and social media acts as an information filtration tool.”
I would speculate another reason is attributed to age demographics (which aren’t listed here). I’m scrounging for the article but I recently saw that adults 35-55 consume a heavy slice of information from blogs and yet when they responded to the poll, they claimed they aren’t aware of what a blog is.
The research seems to be under-estimated (IMHO) due to these factors. I will always appreciate data and statistics but I’d venture to say this survey is ebbing on the safe/lower overall % of the 3 ‘psychographics’ polled here.
[...] has shared some interesting findings from its research on how Internet users discover content. The research mainly focused on how [...]
I think, I am one of those who make your results statistially significant, so I want to talk about my Twitter motivation, and contrast it a bit with the with the motivation of others (at least as I imagine their motivation). As you probably know, with a large enough sample one gets high levels of statistical significance from a very small subset of subjects in the sample. Again, I think I’m one in your subsample.
Twitter is serving so many purposes right now. To some extent, we are all exploring its usefulness. However, I am discovering that what I mostly want, as a scholar, is for people in my field to join in my searching the web on topics of mutual interest, finding articles that contribute to our own studies, and thereby sharing of the fruits of our labor. I see that this can be done without the twittering person knowing their contributions are serving my purpose. However, since I hope my tweets are serving their purposes, I presume that they are pleased to have people mining their tweets for good links and ideas. Those who share my interest in sharing search results, no doubt, contribute to the statistical significance of your results. While I search the philosophical, psychological, therapy field, but also social media and the changing economy, I can imagine people searching fields such as interest in fashion, or recipes, or ways to make money, travel opportunities, scholarship possibilities, etc. And for many people their interest in researching these fields changes form time to time. In our case, Twitter does serve, as you suggest, as a kind of filter.
But I suspect that there are many people on Twitter who do not find Twitter engaging as a way to do research of any kind. For example, I know of one person, for example, who collects the people she follows by following only those with who have the same first name as she, “Lois” (which happens also to be my first name). Such people who follow thousands and thousands of others, with a vast array of content in their posts, surely do not follow in order to have a filter to articles of interest to them. They work the system in order to get as many followers as possible, and as one learns, how many people follow you depends, in part, on how many you follow. For some, I imagine, it even becomes a game of how many people they can get to follow them by whatever method. I think such people do not contribute to the significance of your data.
At any rate, Jon Gibs, your work interests me and I wish to follow you.
..Lois Shawver
If my interests are those of the readers of my comment here, please follow me on Twitter at
@jolanza
[...] has shared some interesting findings from its research on how Internet users discover content. The research mainly focused on how [...]
Social networks will and have certainly replaced some topics previously searched through search engines. The obvious of topics are more social in nature like current trends. Twitter’s real-time search engine capability is something that will only continue to grow and drive information seekers to. Unlike search engines that require X amount of time to index, Twitter updates information immediately, allowing many people to find out information sooner and quicker.
Depending on how social media evolves, I could see a rather distinguished break in categorized information sought after through a search engine like Google vs. Twitter.
Adam Lauer | AgencyNet
http://www.ANidea.com
http://www.AgencyNet.com
@AgencyNet
@at0m611
[...] feed for updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet BoxIn an effort to answer the above question, Nielsen conducted some in-depth research – including an online panel survey of 1,800 participants fielded in August [...]
Didn’t know that search engines are a source of information. I thought they are a gateway to wikipedia and blogs. Interesting new web world. In the forgotten world where i live one would have called this a category mistake if someone would have compared blogs, and online magazines with search engines. It would have been the same fault if one would compare Staples with pens and paper clips.
But I must admit, I may be out of time. Could be…
There is “new social networking” coming – called “google wave” – this will be future of all communication and source of information on Internet
[...] Nielsen reports at its blog in a post from Jon Gibbs, VP Media Analytics In the beginning there were ISPs, which then gave way to portals ― aggregators of content and links ― which then led to the rise of “search” as the dominant form of Internet navigation or, how we get to where we we’re going on the web. However, as with most forms of evolution, change is constant, and over the past two years search navigation has appeared to shift to social media. [...]
[...] [4:57 p.m. PST]: Nielsen just published a similar study, but focused on discovery. Eighteen percent of users see social media as “the core to finding [...]
“In the beginning there were ISPs, which then gave way to portals” …actually in the beginning there was social media (email, BBS, usenet, news groups, irc) – all before www, portals etc.
It seems we’ve gone full circle, almost as if the geeks have inherited the world! There’s a certain level of acceptance these days that you should know how to operate technology more these days than you used to – a generational thing methinks.
Credit to @scottlawson for this reminder!
[...] Social Media: The Next Great Gateway for Content Discovery … [...]
I have similar thoughts around how one day we probably might see the death of the legacy search engines! :-) I had written about it a couple of months back. You may want to give it a read! – http://bit.ly/Ddxmc
Thanks,
Nikhil
As much as I enjoy social media, I can’t see it replacing search in the long run. Before Social Media replaced search Google would evolve and adapt to prevent this from happening.
I agree that search is getting far more social. There will always be traditional “static” search like Google but news is becoming more instant and people want relevant information a lot faster than before. Traditional search will always be used for reserach and finding particular things that are not dependent on time
As Marketers it’s great that we embrace the next change in business and marketing strategy and techniques, however, the vast majority of small businesses are just discovering search. This is an adoption curve challenge, where segments and varying demographics adopt at different intensity, different speeds, and what I’ve seen, it is mostly centered around their key communications tool, the mobile phone. You can not talk social media, nor search, without talking about the device, the moible phone. For small business it is not a tool it’s one of their trusted partners.
[...] Social Media: The Next Great Gateway for Content Discovery? | Nielsen Wire (tags: socialmedia twitter research facebook content statistics analytics sharing search) [...]
[...] 9, 2009 There’s an interesting post over on the Nielsen Wire blog from Jon Gibs (their VP Media Analytics) about the methods people are now using to discover [...]
[...] http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/social-media-the-next-great-gateway-for-content-di... Kategorie:Content Marketing, Social Tagi:Content Marketing, story group, The Next Great Gateway for Content Discovery? Komentarze (0) Trackbacki (0) Dodaj komentarz TrackBack [...]
[...] D, Uncovering Connections on Twitter Could Become Big Business says ReadWriteWeb.com and is Social Media: The Next Great Gateway for Content Discovery? asks Nielsen. Brian Solis was Revealing the People Defining Social Networks as The Speed of Share [...]
[...] Social Media: The Next Great Gateway for Content Discovery? (Nielsen) [...]
[...] Social Media Will Not Replace Search? [...]
Re the first graph the question is ‘When looking for information online…’ I think you need to distinguish between 2 big types of ‘looking for information’. One is when you’re searching for something specific, which is when I’d use a search engine. The other is when you’re just looking for new information in the same way you read a newspaper. For this kind of information seeking social media is great whereas a search engine is not exactly ideal.
Also, as more people are getting their news online (via sites like Digg/Twitter etc) this could help account for the shift in stats.
[...] October 11 tags: facebook, social media williamsburg va, twitter by mrwilliamsburg Nielsen has shared some interesting findings from its research on how Internet users discover content. The research mainly focused on how [...]
[...] on social media – …[trust] what their friends have to say and social media acts as an information filtration tool. This is key because Socializers gravitate towards and believe what is shared with friends and [...]
[...] Social Media: The next great gateway for content discovery? Veröffentlicht 12. Oktober 2009, 11:00 von Holger Schmidt Abgelegt unter: Facebook, Web 2.0, [...]
[...] That’s key. I’ve been noticing for awhile that I use search engines (i.e. Google) and look at my Google Reader less and less all the time. It’s because I’ve found that the good stuff I would have been digging for rises to the top via the folks I follow on Twitter, Facebook and other social sites…we’ll call it “social search.” I’m squarely in the 18-and-growing-percent of folks who use social media as their starting point to finding information on the web, as revealed in the previously mentioned Nielsen study. [...]
[...] how I asked you if any social media profiles appeared on the last assignment ? Apparently social media is being used for information and content, according to [...]
[...] has shared some interesting findings from its research on how Internet users discover content. The research mainly focused on how [...]
[...] understand this phenomenon better, Nielsen carried out a study across 1,800 participants in August 2009. For this study, users were [...]
[...] it is a growing piece of your internet marketing strategy along with pay per click and e-mail. A Neilsenwire survey estimates that “roughly 18 percent of users see it [social media] as core to finding new [...]
[...] Jon Gibs, VP Media Analytics bei Nielsen, schreibt in seinem Blog: In a nutshell, there is a segment of the online population that uses social media as a core navigation and information discovery tool — roughly 18 percent of users see it as core to finding new information. While still a smaller percentage than those who use search engines or portals like Yahoo! or MSN, it is a significant figure. And as social media usage continues to increase I can only expect this figure to grow. (Quelle) [...]
[...] the concept of estate agents connecting to new and existing customers through social networking. By Nielsen Wire, the report surveyed 1,800 people on the acquisition of content through social [...]
[...] the concept of estate agents connecting to new and existing customers through social networking. By Nielsen Wire, the report surveyed 1,800 people on the acquisition of content through social [...]
[...] I came across a rather interesting article/survey from The Nielson Company (”Social Media: The Next Great Gateway for Content Discovery?“) which looks into how consumers are finding information online. Basically it highlights [...]
I’m not sure I totally agree with the conclusion being made that Social Media is taking the place of portals and search as the hub of online navigation.
Instead, I think the interesting aspect of this is that certain groups of onlone users like to use social networks to gather more information, whereas other groups of online users prefer to find information via search or portals.
In addition, I also think it entirely depends on the type of information they are looking. For example, if someone wants to find the best price for a product online, I don’t think the trend is to go to a social network site to achieve this.
Social networks have become a huge factor in our online world, but they will never entirely replace the desire to use a search tool or web protal for most research needs.
[...] Quotes courtesy of ‘Social Media: The Next Great Gateway for Content Discovery”. [...]
[...] to a recent report from Nielsen Online, users of Social Media are increasingly utilizing their Social Networks to [...]
[...] understand this phenomenon better, Nielsen carried out a study across 1,800 participants in August 2009. For this study, users were [...]
[...] the significance of social media as an influence on traffic, Nielsen recently released the results of its study on where Internet users go to find information. Unsurprisingly, search engines and portals [...]
[...] Social sites now account for 18% of how people get info (search 37%) [...]
[...] is no doubt that social media has become a top player in the world of search. A recent study by Nielson Company examined the relationship between social media and user search options. The report compared [...]
The essence of a social network is to network and the information is secondary. Search engines by design provide information. There is so much noise to sift through via social networks that it makes them inefficient to depend on as a replacement for search engines or for that matter blogs.
If time is an important factor in finding and using information social networks nor blogs can replace search engines now or in the future. Blogs are still logs that can archive information for real time and future use. Aligned with social networks they can be good sources to find information fast.
On the other hand anyone who has used social networks for a period of time know there is a drain factor that has resulted in developing applications to help manage time but only tend to multiply the time needed to find information. They do nothing significantly to relieve the drain on time or the physical and mental drain that occurs at the end of the day.
I believe,as seen in the statistics, there are some people who uses social media as their information discovery tool. That would be to get new informaton. A smaller percentage than those who use search engines or portals like Yahoo or MSN. And as social media usage continues to increase, these figures will grow.
[...] August 2009 Nielsen study showed that “when looking for new information online…” 18% of internet users turn to Social [...]
[...] Social Media: The Next Great Gateway for Content Discovery? [...]
i am currently not using the new social media(s)
This is just another indication of how accessible is on the net.
I have learned that technology has advanced so much that if we dont attemp to advance ourselves we will be left at the side of the road
Personally i do not care as long as the data bases AKA people are secure.
[...] online, almost 20% of those seeking information now turn to social media for it as reported by Nielsen Wire. Why? “The short answer: Socializers trust what their friends have to say and social media [...]
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