Thanks to gen y, social media are seriously taking off – according to partial research just released by Anderson Analytics and Genx2y. This includes blogging and forum hopping, social and even professional networking.
The attitudes and behaviours of US tertiary students, the majority of which are generation y, have been tracked by Anderson Analytics since 2005. This study is good because looks beyond the standard spectrum of standard web sites in order to scrutinise the rapid adoption of social media by this generation. And results of this partial study show just how popular they are.
This will be the first in a series of posts I will make on the relations between gen y and social media.
Some of the insights back up a lot that we more or less already know. Like the fact that facebook is the best thing since sliced bread most of us have already gathered. The study, however, provides the stats to prove it, tracing myspace lost the popularity stakes in 2007.
Students
are heavy users of social networks, however Facebook is by far more popular both overall and in terms of frequency of use. Over 80% of students use Facebook compared to 40% for the second most popular MySpace. Facebook is also used more often with 74% of students accessing the site at least once a week. Interestingly, social networking site LinkedIn, which has a much older member base, is also starting to catch on among 10% of students.
The tables below illustrate just how serious a player facebook has become among those surveyed.
It also reveals things we don’t already know. For instance, the revelation that female tertiary students are three times more likely than male to blog than their male counterparts. (I would suggest that this has something to do with the ratio of female to male students, but it is an interesting fact nonetheless)
The fact that ’students are four times more likely to blog’ is also particularly revealing. You have to wonder about the cultural politics of this.
This longitudinal study will run till 2009, tracking what I believe will (in future) be considered the most significant in terms of the rise of social media.
Overall this is one of those rare studies that actually provides us with gems of information alongside relevant insightful statistics that further back up what everyone has been saying. I just think that the evidence further blows everything away, because it really adds something tangible to these claims about the rapid momentum that social media are taking all the way.
I find it particularly important to consider alongside the findings in this research that it not only coincides with more female tertiary students being enrolled – but also the fact it coincides with the moment gen y are enrolling, graduating from higher education and embarking on their early careers.
I look forward to reading more on this research as it winds towards completion and will be keen to read up about similar studies.
Anderson Analytics – GenX2Z College Study is conducted every year in the Fall semester among 1,000 US college students. All participants have confirmed .edu emails. Sample provides statistics with a +/-3.1% confidence interval at the 95% confidence level.
via Social Media – Including Blogging – Now Popular Among Gen Y
extra via Gen y blogging becoming more popular
