According to Nielsen’s recent “Global Faces And Networked Places” report, the biggest increase in unique visitors to Member Community Web sites during 2008 was among 35-49 year olds. The social networking trend has moved well beyond early adopters to become an integral part of most users’ Web experience. However, among adults with more than one social networking profile, the profile still skews young and tech savvy, as revealed in Nielsen @Plan’s Spring 2009 results.
“Although this older segment has joined Member Communities en masse in 2008, most have only a toe …

Michelle McGiboney, Nielsen Online
Twitter.com continues to grow in popularity and importance in both the consumer and corporate worlds. No longer just a platform for friends to stay connected in real time, it has evolved into an important component of brand marketing. Unique visitors to Twitter increased 1,382 percent year-over-year, from 475,000 unique visitors in February 2008 to 7 million in February 2009, making it the fastest growing site in the Member Communities category for the month.  Zimbio and Facebook followed, growing 240 percent and 228 percent, respectively.
Fastest Growing Member Community …

John Burbank, Nielsen Online
For years, it has been assumed that home internet usage would cannibalize live television viewing, but there’s something interesting happening between social networking and live television.  Could it be that what Pete Blackshaw termed “telecommunities” – people simultaneously watching live television programs and chatting in real time with an online network of like-minded fans - will gain scale and give consumers a reason to stick with live viewing?
Let’s look at what happened during the Oscars.
During this year’s broadcast, we used Nielsen’s “Convergence Panel” – a sample of homes in which we …

Two-thirds of the world’s Internet population visit social networking or blogging sites, accounting for almost 10% of all internet time, according to a new Nielsen report “Global Faces and Networked Places.” If data captured from December 2007 through December 2008 is any indication, that percentage is likely to grow as time spent on social network and blogging sites is growing more than three times the rate of overall Internet growth.
“Social networking has become a fundamental part of the global online experience,” commented John Burbank, CEO of Nielsen Online. “While two-thirds …

Ed Dandridge, Chief Communications Officer, Nielsen
It used to be so simple: a TV show aired on television at a given time, and usually repeated a few months later. If someone knew they would not be home to watch a program, they’d set their VCR and watch the program later.  Likewise, measuring viewership was also a fairly straightforward affair.
Programs still air at a set time on TV, but now they’re replayed millions of times in any number of places – on the Internet, on a DVR or a cell phone.  Americans’ …

How might the media and marketing landscape change next year?  In his latest Ad Age column, Pete Blackshaw, Nielsen Online Executive Vice President, ventures a few predictions.
1. Consumers Go On Social Media “Diets”
“[In 2008] we impulsively adopted everything from hastily assembled Facebook friends and Twitter followers to groups, apps and widgets, yet rarely revisited them.  In 2009, less may well become the new more,” Blackshaw notes.

2. Marketers Return To Media Basics
“TV will remain a focus because viewership in aggregate is actually going up, so continuing to understand how social media extends and …

Coupons are already well-established as a promotional vehicle in the U.S., with coupon-clipping Americans comprising 86% of households and driving 89% of all-outlet dollar sales, according to Nielsen.
But that doesn’t mean manufacturers and retailers shouldn’t be looking for ways to make it simpler for households to receive and redeem coupons. 
Writing in the December issue of Nielsen’s “Consumer Insight” online newsletter, Todd Hale, Senior Vice President, Consumer & Shopper Insights, Nielsen, outlines what today’s coupon shopper can expect as new technologies revolutionize couponing methods and mediums.

Companies that harness social media to collect customers’ feedback on products and services aren’t just ahead of the curve — they’re part of the “contribution revolution,” Pete Blackshaw, Nielsen Online Executive Vice President, argues in his latest Ad Age column.
Blackshaw cites a recent Harvard Business Review article by Scott Cook, founder-chairman of software developer Intuit, that credits customer participation with generating “tangible enterprise value.”
Intuit, Blackshaw notes, has created an innovative user-participation model that places “Live Community” user forums on every page of its TurboTax software.
Intuit has also put company resources …

Top social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn may be well-established, but that doesn’t mean they’ve stopped growing.
Nearly half of the biggest social networking sites are also among the fastest growing, according to data released Wednesday by Nielsen Online.
These top sites have also expanded beyond the youthful audience the social networking space initially captured — to find a place in older visitors’ professional lives.  Facebook, LinkedIn, and Reunion.com are most popular among visitors ages 25-34, 35-49, and 55-64, respectively, Nielsen reported.

Rank
(by Sept. YOY UA growth)
10 Fastest Growing
Social Networking Sites: Sept. 2008
Sept. 2007:
Unique Audience …

Women ages 25 to 54 with at least one child are nearly twice as likely as the average American Internet user to provide frequent online advice about parenting and family issues (88% more likely), non-food household products (84% more likely), and beauty/cosmetics (82% more likely).
These “power moms” are also 51% more likely than average Web users to provide frequent online advice on clothes and fashion, food and beverage products (39% more likely than average), home decorating (36% more likely than average), and health, dieting and exercise (27% more likely than …