Table of Contents
Introduction
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- Definition
- Abbreviations
Executive Summary
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- The market
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- Figure 1: Percentage of total unique visitors to social networking sites from home and work in UK, June 2008-March 2011
- Facebook continues to dominate
- Niche social networks have a place
- More reasons to join social networks
- Market factors
- Concerns over privacy and personal data
- Smartphone adoption
- Location-based services
- Companies, brands and innovation
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- Figure 2: Percentage of total unique visitors to select networking sites from home and work in UK, October 2008-March 2011
- Facebook at the top of social networking
- Convergence of social media services
- The consumer
- Users and non-users
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- Figure 3: Number of social networks ever used, March 2011
- Receptiveness to adverts on social networks
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- Figure 4: Consumer attitudes towards social networking sites, March 2011
- What we think
Issues in the Market
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- How should businesses extend their marketing efforts in social media and social networks?
- How important is social networking on the go?
- Will concerns over privacy and personal data affect the behaviour of social network users?
- Will social commerce outshine e-commerce?
- Will Facebook continue to dominate the social networking landscape?
Future Opportunities
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- Trend: Collective Intelligence
- Trend: Attention Economy
Internal Market Environment
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- Key points
- Broadband internet access
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- Figure 5: Broadband penetration, 2005-10
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- Figure 6: Broadband penetration, by age, 2005-10
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- Figure 7: Broadband penetration, by socio-economic group, 2005-10
- Social networking on home and mobile internet
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- Figure 8: Percentage of internet users who visited social networking sites in the last three months via home vs. mobile internet, July 2009-April 2011
- Non-internet users and social networking
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- Figure 9: Non-internet users’ consideration of the internet for various activities, August 2010
- Security concerns
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- Figure 10: Internet activities prevented by security concerns, August 2010
Broader Market Environment
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- Key points
- GDP falls, as does consumer confidence
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- Figure 11: GDP quarterly percentage change, Q1 2004-Q1 2011
- Figure 12: GfK NOP Consumer Confidence Index, January 1988-January 2011
- A note on inflation
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- Figure 13: CPI for all items vs. CPI for telephone and telefax equipment and services, May 2005-March 2011
- Age structure
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- Figure 14: Trends in the age structure of the UK population, 2005-15
Competitive Context
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- Key points
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- Figure 15: Percentage of total unique visitors to the internet from home and work in UK, by activities, June 2008-March 2011
- Decline of emails and instant messaging
- Online gaming
- Newspapers and general news
Strengths and Weaknesses
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- Strengths
- Humanising a brand
- Engagement lead
- Wisdom of the crowd
- Real-time gauge of reactions
- Spreading (select) messages quickly
- Weaknesses
- Noise
- Blurring the line between public and private
- Spam
- Downtime
- Social media success ≠ sales
Who’s Innovating?
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- Key points
- Smaller social networks
- Proximity-based social networks
- Bridging the gap between traditional and social media
- F-commerce
- Social media outreach from unlikely candidates
- Tools to cure information overload
Branches of Social Media
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- Key points
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- Figure 16: Branches of social media
- Social networking
- Commerce
- Gaming
- Communication
- Information
- Multimedia
Companies and Products
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- Figure 17: Unique visitors to Facebook as a percentage of all internet visits, UK, October 2008-March 2011
- Background
- Recent activity
- Service range
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- Figure 18: Unique visitors to Twitter as a percentage of all internet visits, UK, October 2008-March 2011
- Background
- Recent activity
- Service range
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- Figure 19: Unique visitors to LinkedIn as a percentage of all internet visits, UK, October 2008-March 2011
- Background
- Recent activity
- Service range
- MySpace
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- Figure 20: Unique visitors to MySpace as a percentage of all internet visits, UK, October 2008-March 2011
- Background
- Recent activity
- Service range
- Bebo
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- Figure 21: Unique visitors to Bebo as a percentage of all internet visits, UK, October 2008-March 2011
- Background
- Recent activity
- Service range
- Friends Reunited
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- Figure 22: Unique visitors to Friends Reunited as a percentage of all internet visits, UK, October 2008-March 2011
- Background
- Recent activity
- Service range
Users of Social Networks
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- Key points
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- Figure 23: Social networks used, March 2011
- Facebook dominates social networking sector
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- Figure 24: Regular users of social networks, March 2008-March 2011
- Multiple social networks
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- Figure 25: Number of social networks ever used, March 2011
- Figure 26: Social networks used, by social networks used, March 2011
- Selling to non-users
Accessing Social Networks
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- Key points
- Device ownership vs. access to social networks
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- Figure 27: Devices used to access social networking sites, March 2011
- Gender difference
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- Figure 28: Devices used to access social networking sites, by gender, March 2011
- Age difference
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- Figure 29: Devices used to access social networking sites, by age, March 2011
Why Use Social Networks?
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- Key points
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- Figure 30: Reasons for using social networking sites, March 2011
- Friendship before romance
- Stranger danger
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- Figure 31: Making new friends on social networking sites, by age, March 2011
- Figure 32: Youths’ regular activities performed when using the internet, 2010
- Playing games
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- Figure 33: Playing games on social networking sites, by age, March 2011
- Keeping up with the world
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- Figure 34: Keeping up with the latest news on social networking sites, by age, March 2011
- Promotions over information
General Attitudes towards Social Networks
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- Key points
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- Figure 35: Attitudes towards social networking sites, March 2011
- Ad-tention
- Privacy concerns
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- Figure 36: Agreement with the statement “I am concerned about privacy when using social networking sites”, by gender and age, March 2011
- Too busy to talk in person
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- Figure 37: Agreement with the statement “I talk to my friends online more than face to face”, by age and working status, March 2011
- Peer pressure and the choice of social networks
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- Figure 38: Agreement with the statement, “If my friends started using another social network site, I would be inclined to follow them”, by age, March 2011
- Mobile social networking
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- Figure 39: Agreement with the statement, “Being able to access social networking sites via my mobile is very important to me”, by age, March 2011
- Location-based services and deals
- Commerce on social networks
- Paying for social networks
Targeting Opportunities
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- Key points
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- Figure 40: Target groups for social networking, March 2011
- Online Socialites
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- Figure 41: Number of social networks ever used, by target groups, March 2011
- Figure 42: Methods of accessing social networks, by target groups, March 2011
- Profile
- Understanding the Online Socialites
- The Sidekicks
- Profile
- Understanding The Sidekicks
- Offline Socialisers
- Profile
- Understanding the Offline Socialisers
- Social Explorers
- Profiles
- Understanding the Social Explorers
Appendix – Internal Market Environment
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- Figure 43: Broadband penetration, by demographics, 2004-10
- Figure 44: Percentage of internet users who visited social networking sites in the last three months via home vs. mobile internet, July 2009-April 2011
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Appendix – Broader Market Environment
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- Figure 45: Trends in the age structure of the UK population, 2005-15
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Appendix – Leading Social Networks
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- Figure 46: Total unique visitor numbers as a percentage of total internet visitors to selected social networking sites, UK, October 2008-March 2011
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Appendix – Users of Social Networks
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- Figure 47: Social networks used, by demographics, March 2011
- Figure 48: Social networks used, March 2011
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- Figure 49: Number of social networks ever used, March 2011
- Figure 50: Number of social networks ever used, by demographics, March 2011
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Appendix – Accessing Social Networks
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- Figure 51: Devices used to access social networking sites, March 2011
- Figure 52: Device ownership, March 2011
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- Figure 53: Devices used to access social networking sites, by demographics, March 2011
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Appendix – Why Use Social Networks
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- Figure 54: Reasons for using social networking sites, March 2011
- Figure 55: Most popular reasons for using social networking sites, by demographics, March 2011
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- Figure 56: Next most popular reasons for using social networking sites, by demographics, March 2011
- Figure 57: Reasons for using social networking sites, by most popular social networks used, March 2011
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- Figure 58: Reasons for using social networking sites, by next most popular social networks used, March 2011
- Figure 59: Youths’ activities performed when using the internet, 2010
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Appendix – General Attitudes towards Social Networks
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- Figure 60: Attitudes towards social networking sites, March 2011
- Figure 61: Most popular attitudes towards social networking sites, by demographics, March 2011
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- Figure 62: Next most popular attitudes towards social networking sites, by demographics, March 2011
- Figure 63: Attitudes towards social networking sites, by most popular reasons for using social networking sites, March 2011
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- Figure 64: Attitudes towards social networking sites, by next most popular reasons for using social networking sites, March 2011
- Figure 65: Attitudes towards social networking sites, by most popular attitudes towards social networking sites, March 2011
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- Figure 66: Attitudes towards social networking sites, by next most popular attitudes towards social networking sites, March 2011
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Appendix – Targeting Opportunities
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- Figure 67: Target groups, by demographics, March 2011
- Figure 68: Social networks used, by target groups, March 2011
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- Figure 69: Devices used to access social networking sites, by target groups, March 2011
- Figure 70: Reasons for using social networking sites, by target groups, March 2011
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- Figure 71: Attitudes towards social networking sites, by target groups, March 2011
- Figure 72: Number of social networks ever used, by target groups, March 2011
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