Nov
10
2010

MYTH: Social Media Makes People Less Social

This was first posted on Penn Olson on 2 November 2010.

Finally, I’m glad that to announce that new research from ExactTarget has burst the bubble of the notion that technology alienates people with their freshly-baked statistics.

It is proven there is a co-relation between increased social media usage and increased offline interaction – as users increase their Facebook and Twitter usage, they also tend to increase their social, in-person interactions.

More People Bringing Their Interaction Offline

* Among U.S. consumers who report using Facebook more often, 27% report that they meet with friends in person more often, as opposed to 13% who report meeting in person less.
* Using Twitter, 46% reported an increase in in-person meetings with friends more often opposed with 7%, and 33% are calling friends on the phone more and 13% less.

The way I see it? I guess now being connected than ever, people are more conscious about losing the human-touch during electronic communication and certain messages may get miscomprehended. Social media is not like instant messaging anyway; and some conversations are still better exchanged offline. What do you think?

Read more from ExactTarget and CoTweet in their seventh report in the “Subscribers, Fans and Followers” research series to find out if a Facebook fan is really worth $136.38, whether use of email is in decline, and whether Twitter’s success is hinged on celebrities.

Related posts:

  1. Social Media Usage Takes Up 1/4 of Time Spent Online
  2. Why Small Businesses Should Utilise Social Media
  3. Reasons Why Small Businesses Should Utilise Social Media
  4. Just what is Social Media about?
  5. Followers on Twitter are More Valuable than Facebook Fans

Related Posts

About the Author:

@AmeliaChen enjoys indulging in her penchant for all things social media, branding, and web design. Citizen of the web since 2000. In her free time, she designs paper goods, does social work and is trying to maintain a healthy diet.

  • emt training

    It’s really a nice and helpful piece of information. I’m glad that you shared this helpful info with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.

Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes