A new report from Forrester Research (paid report) reveals that social media is growing in nearly every way possible, with some aspects rocketing into majorities of the population. The author of the report, Josh Bernhoff, provides an overview in his blog.
Some nuggets:
- The majority of Americans (69%) consume social media, compared to 48% just a year ago.
- Critics — people who comment on blogs, rate stories, recommend items — jumped from 25% of Americans in 2007 to 37% in 2008.
- “Inactives” — people who don’t consume, create, critique, collect, or join social media projects — fell from 44% of the population in 2007 to 25% of the population in 2008.
There are many other fascinating facts in the report, which is a solid update and shows the speed with which the Web 2.0 world is changing. Remember, it was only in 2004-2005 when the term “Web 2.0″ was being coined, and now the majority of top-traffic web sites are Web 2.0, and the majority of Americans consume social media.
Change happens fast. The question is, Are we changing fast enough to keep pace?
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It’s an interesting study, particularly in light of the recent numbers from big social networks like Facebook, which are shoing a declining growth rate:
http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/10/report-facebook.html
Perhaps what we’re seeing here is a move to the next phase of things, social media becoming entrenched in everyday activities, rather than being a specialized activity at a specialized site.
Posted by David Crotty | Nov 5, 2008, 10:23 amI agree entirely with David. In fact, the recent launch of Facebook Connect portends this universal integration of social media into all sites and installations. It will be baked in. Web 2.0 is the norm.
Posted by Kent Anderson | Nov 5, 2008, 10:29 am