Was alerted to a really interesting article in Information Week last Friday which hinted that companies had begun taking a more 'watch from distance' approach to social media, rather than leaping in and creating their own content. In a survey incorporating 114 executives across 10 countries, 97% of those questioned used Linkedin in 2010 compared to the 33% using Twitter (down 7% on 2009). More notably Facebook usage had dropped from 51% to 20% in one year.
What does that tell us? Ultimately, I think, that top level executives have realised that social media is not necessarily a way to present to the masses, but is more of a convenient tool to gather feedback and listen to what's being said. After an initial spell of jumping in at the deep end to test the water, executives are retreating to the relative safety of the sun bed to watch how others use the pool. What this means, more than anything, is that companies are starting to understand how to use the platforms.
Whilst many can and will use social media as tool to engage and communicate to their audience, many others, notably in the B2B arena will use it as a method to gather information; to look for early signs and to monitor crucial sales intelligence that will push along their deals. Listening is catching on and perhaps saying that Twitter use is down on last year is the incorrect way of putting it. Perhaps it's more a case of correct Twitter usage, is on the way up.
2 comments:
"Whilst many can and will use social media as tool to engage and communicate to their audience, many others, notably in the B2B arena will use it as a method to gather information"- true. No matter how frowned upon it may be, marketers and companies will make use of this information to increase the value per person to their services.
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