Apparently, 21% of UK online consumers visit social networking sites but only 10% read blogs. In the US, the figure is 25% for each.
And interestingly, in France its the opposite: 21% read blogs and only 3% visit social networking sites. For organisations trying to tap into the conversations their customers are having online, its important to know this.
In Groundswell, the writers have defined categories of people (inactives, spectators, joiners, collectors, critics and creators) based on what they do in the web 2 world. They’ve called it the Social Technographics Ladder.
They’ve then conducted surveys to profile different demographic groups across this ladder. Here are their results.
So what are the things that people do that puts them into one of these groups?
Well, Forrester suggests:
| If you do one of these once a month or more … | Then you are… |
| publish a blog or your own web site, upload video / audio / music you’ve created or share articles you’ve written | a creator |
| rate or review a product, comment on a blog, or contribute to a wiki or forum | a critic |
| use RSS feeds, vote for sites online (e.g. Digg), or add tags to sites or photos (e.g. del.icio.us or flickr) | a collector |
| maintain a profile on a social networking site or visit different social networking sites | a joiner |
| read blogs / forums / ratings, watch videos, listen to podcasts | a spectator |
| have no idea what these things are (!) | an inactive |
Its crucial for organisations to understand the categories their core customers fall into if they want to develop a successful social media strategy. For example, there’s no point setting up a facebook group if their target customers are “spectators”.
Its not the only thing that drives a successful social media strategy but its a key starting point.