For more insights and stats about how consumers use social media, please see Nielsen’s Q3 2011 Social Media Report

For more smartphone market data and insights about how consumer use their mobile devices, please see Nielsen’s Mobile Media Report for 2011.

Research suggests that real world interactions drive online friendships. Meanwhile, sales-oriented and depressing comments help drive friend removals. Facebook etiquette also plays a role, with updating too often, too little or having too many friends a consideration for some Facebook users.

Social media activity also plays a role in these decisions, as research indicates that men are more likely to use social media for careers/networking and dating – while women use social media for a creative outlet, to get coupons/promos or to give positive feedback. More men add friends based on business networks or physical attractiveness and women are more likely to friend based on knowing someone in real life or remove them due to offensive comments.

Below is an infographic outlining the various reasons for adding or removing Facebook friends and a breakdown of social media activity:

*Methodology: NM Incite, State of Social Media Survey (April 2011). NM Incite’s ‘State of Social Media Survey’ is based on a representative sample of 1,865 adult (18+) social media users who were recruited from the Nielsen Online Panel to take an online survey. “Social media user” is defined as participating, talking, and networking online through various platforms to share information and resources. This includes Internet forums, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, video sharing, consumer rating and other social networking websites. The survey fielded from March 31 to April 14th.

Staying Social
Facebook’s popular app is the most active among Android owners 18-24 and 25-34, who both hover at around an 80 percent active reach. Additionally, more than three quarters of users 35-44 used the app recently as well.

Google’s YouTube app gets heavy usage from Android smartphone owners 18 -24: 64 percent have used it in the past 30 days, compared to 56 percent and 51 percent of 25-34 and 35-44 year olds. A preference for media apps with a social dimension (e.g. Words with Friends) among the 18-24 set is also reinforced by their sizable usage of music and video apps (e.g. Pandora) compared to older demographics.

Play Time
Not just for the kids, the ubiquitous game, Angry Birds, appeals more to those 35-44 when compared to other age groups: 35 percent of them have used the app in the last 30 days, while only 22 percent of those 18-24 and 29 percent of 25-34 year-olds launched the game.

Apps and More for Sale
Apart from gaming, the 35-44 segment demonstrates a greater inclination to shop using the Amazon AppStore: 24 percent of them used the app in the last 30 days, while only 14 percent of those 18-24 did the same. Groupon appeals more to those 25-34, not even making the top 20 ranking for those 18-24. A similar trend was found on Google+: active reach was higher for those 25 and older when compared to the 18-24 demographic.

While all sites in the Top 10 saw an increase in unique U.S. visitors during the month, Amazon had the largest increase (5.9%) among the top sites.  Visitors to Facebook’s website spent the most time on average, logging over 7 hours 45 minutes using the social network over the course of the month. AOL also increased the amount of time spent by average visitors on their site by over 25% during August.

Overall 215 million Americans were active on the Internet in August 2011, an increase of 1.2% compared to the previous month. On average Americans spent over 30 hours online during August and visited 99 unique domains. Nielsen estimates 275 million Americans had access to the Internet during August 2011.

* – Due to a change in the type of call used behind Facebook’s AJAX interface, Nielsen NetView data for Facebook duration was underreported for June and July, impacting overall web use figures for those months. Therefore, Time Spent and Page Views per Person for August should not be trended against July 2011 data.

Not surprisingly, the top drivers of social media use among social networkers are keeping in touch with family and friends (89% and 88%, respectively) and finding new friends (70%).  Another driver of use is the desire to view and contribute to reviews of products and services as 68 percent of social media users go to social networking sites to read product reviews and over half use these sites to provide product feedback, both positive and negative.  Other top reasons social media users engage in social networking include entertainment (67%), as a creative outlet (64%), to learn about products (58%), and to get coupons or promotions (54%).

The study also looked at the differences in use among social media users with children and those without, finding that parents are more likely than non-parents to use social media for almost every thing, with dating being the exception.  Parents are 26 percent more likely than non-parents to visit social networks to play games, 23 percent more likely to use as a creative outlet and 20 percent more likely to use for entertainment.

Methodology

NM Incite’s ‘State of Social Media Survey’ is based on a representative sample of 1,865 adult (18+) social media users who were recruited from the Nielsen Online Panel to take an online survey. “Social media user” is defined as participating, talking, and networking online through various platforms to share information and resources. This includes Internet forums, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, video sharing, consumer rating and other social networking websites. The survey fielded from March 31 to April 14, 2011.

]]> http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/friends-following-and-feedback-how-were-using-social-media/feed/ 0 http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/most-buzzed-about-emmy-nominated-performances/ http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/most-buzzed-about-emmy-nominated-performances/#comments Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:01:57 +0000 Nielsen Wire http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/?p=29094 The court of (social media) public opinion has voted, and the Emmy winners are in. An analysis of online buzz by Nielsen reveals that of all the best actor/actress nominees, Michael C. Hall’s performance as Dexter generated by far the most buzz—both during the regular season and following the Emmy nominations in July. Hall was nominated for Best Actor in a Drama; he handily won his category with 84 percent of all buzz mentions about the nominees.

Mariska Hargitay’s portrayal of Detective Olivia Benson in Law & Order: SVU was the buzz winner for Best Actress in a Drama Series. Edie Falco as Jackie in Nurse Jackie and Louis C.K. as Louie in the show Louie generated the most buzz of their categories, Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, respectively. Each delivered a performance that generated the most buzz of all their categories’ nominees.

Interestingly, nominees who play the titular character, i.e. “Nurse Jackie,” “Dexter” and “Louie,” are mentioned more frequently in buzz. Louis C.K. garnered the second most buzz among all nominees in the lead acting categories, benefitting from his personal use of social media (especially Twitter) to discuss the show.

The ability of the Emmy’s to generate buzz is also undeniable. While all of the category winners dominated buzz conversations both during the season and following the nominations, most nominees saw considerable increases following the nominations. Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) and Mireille Enos (The Killing), for example, received more buzz mentions following their nominations in July that in the entire ten months prior.

Other findings include:

• Comedy nominees tend to generate more buzz than those in drama series, on average.
• Actress nominees tend to garner a more even share of buzz, whereas the male nominees were dominated by a couple lead characters.
• The Lead Actress in a Drama category had the least buzz overall, while Lead Actor in a Drama had the most.

Highlights of Nielsen’s “State of the Media: The Social Media Report”

• Social networks and blogs continue to dominate Americans’ time online, now accounting for nearly a quarter of total time spent on the Internet
• At over 53 billion total minutes during May 2011, Americans spend more time on Facebook than they do on any other website
• Tumblr is an emerging player in social media, nearly tripling its audience from a year ago
• Nearly 40 percent of social media users access social media content from their mobile phone
• Internet users over the age of 55 are driving the growth of social networking through the Mobile Internet
• 70 percent of active online adult social networkers shop online, 12 percent more likely than the average adult Internet user
• Across a sample of 10 global markets, social networks and blogs are the top online destination in each country, accounting for the majority of time spent online and reaching at least 60 percent of active Internet users

For a more in-depth look at the social media landscape and audience, view the complete State of the Media: The Social Media Report. 

Overall web activity increased slightly in May, and among the Top 10 sites Apple witnessed the highest increase in monthly visitors, with more than 5.7 percent more uniques during May. Facebook also increased unique U.S. visitors by 4.7 percent compared to the prior month, with average visitors spending slightly less time (-0.8%) on their website in May.

Over 200 million Americans used their PCs in May 2011, and overall Internet use was up 2.8 percent from April. U.S. consumers also visited more unique sites (2.5%) compared to the previous month, and spent more time online on average (0.8%) in May. Internet access continues to grow during the month, with an estimated 246 million individuals in the U.S. having accessing to the Internet through Home/Work computers in May 2011.

While overall web activity decreased slightly in April, YouTube increased U.S. visitors over the prior month, with average visitors spending 2.9 percent more time on the website in April. Visitors to AOL’s network of sites also spent more time on average, about 5 percent longer during April.

While 194.8 million Americans went online in April, overall Internet use is down 2.4 percent from March. Not surprisingly, with the shorter month U.S. consumers spent slightly less time online on average (-3.8%) in April, and visited fewer unique sites compared to the month prior. Despite the slight monthly decline in time spent, Nielsen estimates that Internet access at home and work grew to 244 million individuals in the U.S. during April 2011.