Still think social media is a fad?

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While many people are starting to come around on social media, there are still many who call it a fad. The uphill fight seems to be slowing and numbers like the ones Erik Qualman throws out there in his second Socialnomics video help make turning these naysayers minds a little easier. For example:

80% of companies use social media in recruiting
95% of that usage is on LinkedIn
78% of consumers trust peer recommendations
Only 14% trust advertising
If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest country in the world

While those numbers are great for sticking out your tongue and pointing (you know you did it), Qualman also offers some metrics around the adoption of media channels in terms of years that it took to get to 50 million users:

Radio – 38 Years
TV – 73 Years
Internet – 4 Years
iPod – 3 years
Facebook – >1 year for 200 million

These numbers are only going to increase, question is will your company adapt?

jeffespo

TJ - people love numbers and it is good to have things to back us up.

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Thanks Lallos. There are folks who just don't want to recognize that consumers interact with brands are changing are the same folks that said the Titanic wasn't sinking. As Bob Dylan said, Times are a Changin' and its up to folks to get on the gravy train.

The numbers are staggering - its awesome to see and help quantify our field.

lallos

Nice post Jeff. Personally I think anyone who feels social media is a fad will soon be left behind, only to find out that the only fad was their career.

While you can't deny the how quickly social media is growing by looking at those numbers, this question popped into my head: do you think there's any validity to the argument that population size and ability to get the technology to the masses effects those numbers? Like when comparing radio or tv vs. facebook? Do you think % of the population would paint a different picture?

TJ Dietderich

Thanks for linking to this updated video, Jeff! It's always good to have these numbers in our pockets.

Tweets that mention Still think social media is a fad? #in #fb -- Topsy.com says:

May 10, 2010 at 7:17 am

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by jeffespo. jeffespo said: Still think social media is a fad? http://bit.ly/b57rAC #in #fb [...]

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