Thursday, June 23, 2011

Who Uses Social Networks?

A few days ago I quoted some stats from the Pew Internet & American Life Project regarding Facebook use. Today we'll look at some of the other interesting tidbits that came from the studio regarding social networking. It really gives you a good idea of exactly who is using the most popular social networks.
  • 92% of those that use social networking use Facebook, 29% participate on MySpace, 18% are on LinkedIn and 13% use Twitter.
  • Overall social networking usage has nearly doubled from 2008  to 2010.  Back in 2008 26% of adults were utilizing a social networking service (SNS) whereas 47% of adults were using a SNS in 2010.
  • Only 18% of Internet users over the age of 35 used a social networking service in 2008, but by 2010 that number was up to 48%.  
  • The average age of an adult SNS user jumped from 33 years old in 2008 to 38 years old in 2010
  • Social networking users skew female. A notable change showed the discrepancy actually grew from 6% more females in 2008 to 12% more female social networking users in 2010.
  • The average MySpace user (32 years old)  is younger than both the average Facebook user (38) or Twitter (33) user.  LinkedIn skews the highest out of all the networks with users having an average age of 40.
  • LinkedIn is the only social network that has more men than women and the disparity is rather large, with men nearly doubling the number of women.  Twitter, on the other hand, is almost exactly the opposite of LinkedIn with woman making up 64% of the total users.
  • African-American users have the lowest presence on LinkedIn, making up only 2% of the total users. The highest saturation of African Americans is on MySpace with 16% of the total users.
  • Hispanic users are not prominent on social networking services either. LinkedIn is comprised of only 4% Hispanics, compared to the approximate 14.5% Hispanic makeup of the national population. Hispanics do however make up 12% of both the Twitter and MySpace user base.
  • LinkedIn is far and away the most saturated site when it comes to white users, who make up a whopping 85% of the user base.
  • While Twitter finished in last place out of the four main sites, the frequency of use of Twitter is quite high. Facebook  leads the pack in frequency of use with 52% of users checking at least once a day, but Twitter is close behind with 33% of users checking in on a daily basis.
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    Wednesday, June 22, 2011

    Could This Someday Be An Alternative To Ticketmaster?

    I'm all for anything that can make concert or gig ticketing more fair and efficient. Just about everyone except Ticketmaster employees hates the current system, with the "convenience charges,"  the extra charge for printing your own tickets, and the general perceived contempt for the customer.

    If there was an alternative, I bet it wouldn't take long for venues, promoters and artists to switch. Now maybe there is.

    A company called Gigswiz is trying to build an alternative way to ticketing as they try to bring the process to social networks and reward artists for direct contact with their fans. Recently they even implemented a Fan Loyalty program with British band Human League, where the band was able to pass on ticket discounts to the fans.

    The way it works is artists sign up to GigsWiz Backstage and connect the service to their Facebook and Twitter accounts. GigsWiz then automatically promotes all upcoming gigs with ticketing links, for which the artist or band gets credit. Event organizers can also create events on the GigsWiz Tickets service so that they can reach a band’s fan base.

    In addition to those updates being pushed automatically to social media channels, GigsWiz provides embeddable widgets and Facebook apps for artists, promoters and venues that list upcoming gigs and link directly to a page to purchase tickets. The artist is awarded anywhere from 5 to 20% commission on the sales, which they can either keep or give back to their fans.

    I'm sure Ticketmaster isn't shaking in their boots, but here's hope that Gigswiz gets a foot in the door and gives the market an alternative. We really need it.
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    Tuesday, June 21, 2011

    Comparing The Music Services

    My buddy Gary Myer sent me this chart the other day. It's from an LA Times article about the competition that Spotify will have when it's finally able to operate in the US. As you can see, one of the things that both Spotify and Rdio have going for them is the fact that they have your music available in the cloud and on-demand at any time, plus streaming radio service. The downside is that they're subscription services that charge you a monthly fee to listen on your computer, and about double the normal fee to add mobile access as well. iCloud will be a single charge per year.

    Will this make a difference to the consumer? Will iCloud add radio streaming (don't see why not as you can get it with iTunes now)? I guess we'll have to wait until both Spotify and iCloud are available to actually see.

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    Monday, June 20, 2011

    How People Use Facebook

    Last week Pew Internet & American Life Project, a project of the Pew Research Center, launched a detailed report on how social networking affects our lives. Among the things it detailed is just who is using Facebook and how they use it.

    First of all, the most active Facebook users tend to be women. 19% of women update their status at least once a day, while only about 11% of men provide daily status updates.

    Breakdown of Friend Relationships
    The report also found some interesting info about friend relationships.
    • 22% people from high school
    • 12% extended family
    • 10% coworkers
    • 9% college friends
    • 8% immediate family
    • 7% people from voluntary groups
    • 2% neighbors
    Some of the most interesting stats that prove social networks are more than just online relationships are:
    • Only 3% of users’ Facebook friends have never met in person. While 89% of all Facebook friends have met in person more than once.
    • Internet Users are more trusting of others than non-Internet users. Facebook users are over 3 times more likely than non-internet users to agree that “most people can be trusted.”
     Comments And Likes
    According to the report, Facebook users are not only active in posting, but in interacting as well. For instance:
    • 22% of users comment on another’s post or status
    • 26% of users “like” another user’s content
    • 15% of users update their own status
    • 20% of users comment on another user’s photos
    In addition to commenting and updating statuses, Facebook users do “like” quite a bit of content.
    • 44% of users in the 18-22 age range “like” content on a daily basis.
    • Men are less likely to “like” Facebook content than women.  20% of women “like” content several times a day compared to just 9% of men.

    That said, private messages are not frequently used. Only 38% of users claim to use Facebook’s private messages at once a week or more.

    Facebook is truly a community, but you respond to your friends in your community differently than in real life, as the report shows. With that in mind, remember to be mindful of what you're posting and how you treat your online friends. They deserve the same respect as if they were in the room with you.

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    Sunday, June 19, 2011

    The 25 Highest Paid Musicians And What It Means For Music

    Forbes Magazine recently presented their annual financial ranking of musicians in their Celeb 100 issue, and while it may look as business as usual for a bunch of high visibility names, there's actually some good news for the music business in the numbers.

    While the list has its share of the musical old guard with names like U2, Bon Jovi, Elton John, AC/DC and The Eagles, the good news is that there are so many newer and more diverse acts on the list than in recent years. That's especially good news for the concert business, who've been accused of recycling the same old acts because there were no news ones that could pack the house. Apparently that's not the case anymore as Justin Beiber, The Black-Eyed Peas, Michael Buble, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Usher prove that there are viable new acts that people will pay their hard-earned dollars to see. And while the charts seem to be dominated by women, gender-wise  that's not the case on the big stage, with only 5 acts being women. It's diverse too, with 10 rock acts, 6 country acts, 5 r&b/hip-hop acts and 4 pop acts.

    Here's their list.

    1. U2 - $195 million
    2. Bon Jovi - $125 million
    3. Elton John - $100 million
    4. Lady Gaga - $90 million
    5. Michael Buble - $70 million
    6. Paul McCartney - $87 million
    7. The Back-Eyed Peas - $61 million
    8. The Eagles - $60 million
    9. Justin Bieber - $53 million
    10. David Matthews Band - $51 million
    11. Toby Kieth - $50 million
    12. Usher - $46 million
    13. Taylor Swift - $45 million
    14. Katy Perry - $44 million
    15. Brad Paisley - $40 million
    16. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - $38 million
    17. Jay-Z - $37 million
    18. AC/DC - $35 million (tie)
    19. Beyonce Knowles - $35 million (tie)
    20. Sean "Diddy" Combs - $35 million (tie)
    21. Tim McGraw - $35 million (tie)
    22. Muse - $35 million (tie)
    23. Rascal Flatts - $34 million
    24. Kenny Chesney - $30 million
    25. Rihanna - $29 million
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