with Google

Forward thinking and rooted in data, Think Insights offers you a one-stop shop for consumer trends, marketing insights and industry research. Stay updated and join the conversation:

Think With Google on Google

Latest, free research from Google. Includes latest insights, a full research library, planning tools, facts and statistics, and much more.

A tremendous resource by Google, who is taking a big leap forward by sharing as much data, insights, and tools found in their Think with Google site.

Many social network users are using channels such as Twitter and Facebook to discuss shopping decisions and experiences with their peers. Although often this means they are using social networks as another channel to hunt down the best deals, consumers are also turning to those sites to provide feedback about their experiences with brands.

ROI Research conducted a study that asked social network users why they discuss products and services on social network sites. The majority of respondents said that when discussing products and services, they are comparing prices and talking about sales and specials with their social network friends and followers. Fifty-three percent of the surveyed social network users said they provide feedback to the brand or retailer via social network sites—and 47% said they express disappointment with the brand when they see fit.

The Social Habit is a new study conducted by Edison Research and Arbitron, and is derived from the 19th Edison/Arbitron Internet and Multimedia Research Series, one of the longest-running studies of consumer adoption of the Internet, new media and other technologies in existence.

This study was originally presented by Edison Vice President of Strategy Tom Webster at Blogworld in New York on May 25, 2011, and presented new, unreleased data for 2011 on America's adoption of social networking sites and services, with a detailed look at Facebook and Twitter usage, mobile social behavior, and location-based apps and services.

Highlights of the study included the following:

Social Media now reaches the majority of Americans 12+, with 52% having a profile on one or more social networks.

This figure is driven largely by Facebook, which is now used by over half (51%) of Americans 12+.

Twitter is as familiar to Americans as Facebook (with 92% and 93% familiarity, respectively); however, Twitter usage stands at 8% of Americans 12+.

Approximately 46 million Americans 12+ now check their social media sites and services several times every day.

Much of this frequent usage is driven by mobile access. 56% of frequent social network users own smartphones, and 64% of frequent social networkers have used a mobile phone to update their status on one or more social networks.

Location-based sites and services (such as Foursquare and Facebook Places) are familiar to 30% of Americans 12+, and used by 4% of Americans 12+.

One in four social network users knowingly follow brands, products or services on social networks. For those who use these sites and services several times per day, this figure increases to 43%.

Amongst those who do follow brands, products or companies on social networks, 80% indicate that Facebook is the network they use the most to connect with companies.

Nearly a quarter of social network users indicated that Facebook is the social site or service that most influences their buying decisions. No other site or service was named by more than 1% of the sample, and 72% indicated that no one social site or service influenced their buying decisions the most.

A majority of marketers are engaging in social media as a marketing channel, and a large number of those consider the professional networking site LinkedIn as offering the best ROI.

The “BMA Project Case Study,” a survey of Business Marketing Association members by online research company Itracks Online Data Collection, found that 89% of respondents are using social media as part of their marketing mix. LinkedIn was favored as providing the greatest ROI by 49% of respondents, followed by Twitter (20%), Facebook (15%), blogs and videos (11%) and YouTube (6%).

Interesting survey of Business Marketing Association members found LinkedIn to be the most favored social media platform among marketers, with greater return on investment (ROI) than Twitter, Facebook, or blogs/videos.

The study begs the question as to whether these results apply to public relations practitioners.

Cheers to @sharilee for the link.

13% of online adults use the status update service Twitter, which represents a significant increase from the 8% of online adults who identified themselves as Twitter users in November 2010. 95% of Twitter users own a mobile phone, and half of these users access the service on their handheld device.

Check out the link for full details, to read the full report, and to view Pew's survey questions used for operationalizing and measuring the concepts examined. One great aspect of their study was to sample the population in such a way to include both English- and Spanish-speaking populations.

Two Pew Internet Project surveys of teens and adults reveal a decline in blogging among teens and young adults and a modest rise among adults 30 and older. Even as blogging declines among those under 30, wireless connectivity continues to rise in this age group, as does social network use. Teens ages 12-17 do not use Twitter in large numbers, though high school-aged girls show the greatest enthusiasm for the application.

Twitter, according to the report, has between 10 million and 15 million active tweeters.

Ahh, well, that can be expected. Everyone signs up and then doesn’t come back for awhile until they figure out what they're supposed to do. Still, 10-15 million active users is quite impressive.

“There is a shift in recruitment best practices occurring right now,” said Jim Sullivan, JCSI’s founder and president. “Companies are finding that it is far more productive to reach high quality candidates with online research and social media networking. This requires recruiting teams to develop new skills to communicate with potential candidates in their own online communities.”

More proof that you need an personal brand/presence online. Additionally, the study points out that recruiters are relying more heavily on social media to find recruits because of less resources, money, and time to spend on the hiring process. They want to hire new employees as quick and efficiently as possible.