How iPad Usage is Shaping Up

In the UK, 24% of iPad owners say it’s their primary entertainment device

With iPads now in the hands of millions, studies have begun to examine how the superhyped tablet is fitting into real life, and whether the opportunity for publishers and advertisers is as big as they hoped.

Qualitative research from Ball State University examined how attitudes toward iPads changed after owning one for 24 hours. According to the report, “A Play Date with the iPad,” study participants found the iPad was best for leisure activities. Content creation was too difficult on the device but ideal for content consumption.

iPad users were impressed with applications optimized for the device, especially iBooks, Apple’s ereader app. They emphasized its value as an entertainment device—which meant some were not as interested in owning one because they felt they did not have a need for a new entertainment-based screen. Some productivity-oriented participants considered the tablets inefficient.

In the UK, a survey by copywriting firm Cooper Murphy Webb found that iPad owners had taken to the device in a big way, also for entertainment purposes. More than two in five said they used the tablet at least 10 hours weekly, and almost a quarter said it had become their primary entertainment device, ahead of TV and trailing PCs by just 9 percentage points.

The iPad was considered the No. 1 delivery method for newspapers and magazines, and its popularity for books was even greater: 41% of iPad owners preferred to read on the device, vs. 36% who liked hard copies better. iPads were also the top gaming device for owners of the tablets, beating out consoles by 2 percentage points.

Most users didn’t find iPads very portable, though. More than 60% said they rarely or never took their iPad when they left home, while just 5% did so always.

The focus on content consumption rather than creation should be a boon for both marketers and publishers, who are hoping to generate revenues through app sales and ad support. With newspapers, magazines, books and gaming some of the top uses of the iPad thus far, the tablet is building the reputation content owners and advertisers hoped for as an entertainment-oriented device.

Mature Consumers Seek Edgy Brands

A growing audience of experienced, less-easily shocked, outspoken consumers appreciate brands that are a little bit more daring and outspoken, according to consumer insights firm trendwatching.com.

The Rise of ‘Maturialism’
trendwatching.com has dubbed this growing consumer trend “Maturialism.” According to trendwatching.com, consumers of today no longer tolerate being treated like yesteryear’s easily shocked, inexperienced, middle-of-the-road consumers. Able to handle much more honest conversations, unusual flavors and risqué experiences, these consumers increasingly appreciate brands that are pushing the boundaries a bit.

Maturialism Part of ‘Brand Fabric’
trendwatching.com deems maturialism as part of a larger social trend it calls “Brand Fabric,” which is defined as brands truly needing to focus on how to move with the culture. In addition to pushing boundaries, Brand Fabric also entails serving customers in an innovative manner, recognizing the increasing sophistication and intelligence of the modern consumer, transparency and authenticity.

‘Casual Collapse’ Fuels Maturialism
Casual collapse, or the ongoing demise of many beliefs, rituals, formal requirements and laws that modern societies once held, without predicted social annihilation, is a key driver of maturialism. Modern consumers are bored, if not distrustful, of the conventional consumer-producer relationship, and now look for brands and products that are more authentic, more human, and quite simply more mature.

In emerging consumer societies, there’s an obvious link between the broad spread of more liberal attitudes and increasing urbanization. As new arrivals are ‘liberated’ from traditional social and familial structures, and are exposed to a wider range of alternative goods, services, lifestyles and experiences, their tolerance to (if not their interest in) these alternatives grow. trendwatching.com advises that casual collapse happens at a very slow pace.

Online Culture Supports Maturialism
More than 2 billion people worldwide are online. The resulting ‘online culture’ is intense and uninhibited. Mature consumers are uninterested in sanitized corporate websites and seek a more real online experience. Live, unscripted online events and webcasts that go beyond the limits imposed on TV broadcasts are two methods brands can use to take advantage of the mature online culture.

Status Shifts toward Maturialism
Sources of status in mature consumer societies are moving beyond conspicuous consumption (see below). Increasingly sophisticated, increasingly wealthy, increasingly urban consumers are more try-out-prone, more demanding and more daring as they search for the next big thing to impress or discuss with people.

Constantly exposed to, and increasingly tolerant of and enamored by modernity, today’s mature consumers positively embrace innovation, creativity and unconventionality when it comes to consuming products, services and experiences.

trendwatching.com further advises that pure shock without innovation or thought behind it is never a successful marketing device.

Status Moves Beyond Consumption
The definition of status is diversifying and moving beyond simple consumption, according to a previous trend briefing from trendwatching.com.

Although the need for status is at the heart of every consumer trend, in mature consumer societies (such as the US), consumers are moving beyond owning the most and/or priciest items, according to Status is now also tied to less tangible symbols such as acquired skills, eco-credentials, connectivity and generosity.

Despite this shift, trendwatching.com says the lust for luxury will continue, especially in emerging consumer markets such as Brazil and Russia. In addition, consumers want to be “in the know,” to have deep and trivial knowledge they can share with less knowledgeable colleagues to gain status. Mobile applications that provide locations and other information serve this growing status need.

Can Twitter Turn a Revenue Trickle into a Stream?

It’s been four months since Twitter announced its long-awaited Promoted Tweets advertising platform, so it seems a good time to assess the service’s initial campaigns.

Early participants included Virgin America, NBC Universal’s Bravo and Red Bull. Virgin America used Promoted Tweets to announce an expansion into Toronto and a 50%-off promotion for the first 500 travelers who flew from two California airports into the Canadian city. Adweek reported that the promotion sold out in 3 hours.

Bravo used Promoted Tweets to highlight an Earth Day promotion whereby consumers were invited to find out their “green IQ” on NBC Universal’s website. In 2 hours, the promotion hit 300 retweets, the maximum allowed under the program. And by the end of the first day, Bravo had received an estimated 200,000 impressions, according to a company representative. Red Bull did not provide metrics but reported “engagement rates … higher than typical cost-per-click and CPM advertising.”

It all sounds positive, but to put these numbers in perspective, 500 tickets does not seem like a huge volume for an airline the size of Virgin America, especially considering that the routes involved the most populous state in the US and the largest city in Canada.

The same could be said of Bravo’s promotion. Its site received more than 1.1 million unique visitors in May 2010, according to Compete. That 300 of them retweeted the Earth Day promotion does not point to a huge success. And the company did not give details of what it meant by “impressions.” Similarly, Red Bull’s statement of high “engagement rates” was nonspecific. And none of the companies revealed how much they spent on the promotion.

All of this translates to a service that’s flapping its wings but has yet to take flight. When you consider that Facebook is on track to produce $1.3 billion in ad revenue this year, Twitter has lots of catching up to do to monetize its audience.

But there is hope. The three top motivators for US Twitter users to follow companies are to get updates on future products, to stay informed about the activities of a company and to receive discounts and promotions, according to an ExactTarget study. If brand marketers can use Promoted Tweets creatively to achieve these goals, they will find a receptive audience at the other end of the Twitter stream.

Twitter also launched its @earlybird Exclusive Offers program. This is a Twitter account that tweets limited-time deals and discounts from participating advertisers to users who follow the account. Twitter has teamed up with some of its potential competitors in the online deal space, including Groupon and Gilt Groupe.

Disney used @earlybird to promote its film release “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” The movie opened July 16 to mostly negative reviews and is already considered a flop, so it’s not a good barometer of the effectiveness of @earlybird to get the word out about a film premiere, or any other product launch for that matter.

A better gauge of @earlybird’s early momentum is the number of followers. In its first month as an active account, it has already racked up 164,000. As more companies experiment with the service, some of them are bound to hit pay dirt. This should create a virtuous cycle of more consumers jumping on board, thereby enlarging the addressable audience for future promotions.

The question is whether Twitter can use these platforms to transform itself from a social phenomenon to a revenue generator before its investors run out of patience. It will take some big success stories to turn these baby steps into giant strides.

Most Companies Have Social Media Strategies

Three-quarters of companies currently have a social media marketing strategy, according to a new study from King Fish Media, Hubspot and Junta 42.

Companies Have or Will Have Strategies
As mentioned above, about three-quarters (72%) of companies currently have a social media marketing strategy. Of the 27% without a social media marketing strategy (1% were undecided), 80% plan to have one within the next 12 months. Furthermore, only 11% of companies without a strategy definitely do not plan to implement one in the next 12 months, with 9% undecided.

Investments Will Grow
Another three-quarters of companies (75%) plan to increase their social media investment in the next 12 months. As with the previous question, a high percentage of respondents (13%) don’t know, with only 12% definitely not planning to increase social media investment.

One-third of Increases Tied to Specific Project
Of companies planning a social media spending increase, about one-third (35%) are tying it to a specific project or custom media program. Another third (33%) will make social media an incremental marketing budget increase.

One-fifth of respondents (21%) will fund social media spending increases from their moving budgets, while 11% don’t know how the increase will be allocated.

Marketers Take Part-time Social Media Responsibility
In a solid 70% majority of companies, social media is a marketing responsibility. Twenty-three percent place social media on the shoulders of management. The remaining 7% assign social media to sales, IT, or don’t know.

In 90% of companies, managing social media is a part-time job mixed in with other responsibilities.

Marketers Promote Whole Company to New and Existing Customers
Two-thirds of companies surveyed (67%) use social media to promote the company as a whole. Another 41% promote specific individuals (more than one response permitted), while 24% promote a specific brand.

In scope, most companies (70%) target social media campaigns to both new customer acquisition and customer retention. However, of companies that only target one of those groups, far more target new customers (23%) than existing (4%).

Social Media ROI Varies
Marketers use a wide array of metrics to measure return on investment (ROI) from social media campaigns, according to other survey results. Quantitatively, almost all (93%) measure the number of visitors/page views, while 85% measure the number of fans/followers generated. Another 79% measure the traffic generated to the corporate site from social media.

Qualitatively, 84% measure increased dialogues with prospects and customers, while 68% measure how much existing customer relationships were strengthened.

Facebook users warned of 'Dislike' scam

Computer security firm Sophos on Monday warned that scammers are duping Facebook users with a bogus "Dislike" button that slips malicious software onto machines.

There is no "Dislike" version of the "Like" icon that members of the world's top social networking website use to endorse online comments, stories, pictures or other content shared with friends.

Hackers are enticing Facebook users to install an application pitched as a "Dislike" button that jokingly notifies contacts at the social networking service "now I can dislike all of your dumb posts".

Once granted permission to access a Facebook user's profile, the application pumps out spam from the account and spreads itself by inviting the person's friends to get the button, according to Sophos.

The ruse was described as the latest in an ongoing stream of tricks that includes baiting booby-trapped links with messages including "the biggest and scariest snake" and "world's worst McDonald's customer".

Social Network Ad Spending to Approach $1.7 Billion This Year

6.7% of all US online ad spending to go toward social networks this year

Social network advertising is getting renewed attention in 2010. The US’s gradual economic recovery, combined with marketers’ incessant focus on reaching consumers in social media, has led companies to make big increases in social network ad spending in the first half of 2010.

eMarketer estimates US advertisers will spend $1.68 billion on social networking sites this year, a more than 20% increase over 2009. Spending will rise even further by 2011 to more than $2 billion.

In December 2009, eMarketer forecast $1.3 billion in social network ad spending for 2010. Strong performance from online ad spending in general, and Facebook in particular, has resulted in the increased forecast.

Facebook will receive half of all social network ad spending in the US while MySpace continues to diminish in importance. Twitter, which finally launched its ad business earlier this year, is incorporated into eMarketer’s forecast for the first time. While spending on the microblogging service will be low in 2010, the potential for 2011 and beyond could be dramatic if it proves that its “resonance” model of measuring advertising effectiveness works.

Spending on social network advertising will grow even more quickly elsewhere in the world. In 2010, eMarketer estimates just over half of social network ad spending worldwide will come from the US, but 2011 will bring a reversal in that proportion.

Another important development in the social network space is the role of online social games and applications. Advertising is not a primary revenue stream for game companies such as Zynga or Playdom, but their large audiences are drawing the interest of marketers. eMarketer expects such companies will attract $293 million in spending worldwide in 2011, up from $220 million in 2010.

Few Consumers Interested in Tablet PCs

Only 11% of global online consumers currently own or have interest in tablet PCs, although the Middle East shows far greater interest, according to a new study from The Nielsen Company.

MEAP Interest Almost Double Global Average
“How We Watch” indicates that regionally, the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan (MEAP) area has a substantially greater interest/ownership rate for tablet PCs than the worldwide average. MEAP scores 182 on the Index of Ownership + Definite Purchase Intent for Tablet PC by Region, meaning online consumers there have an interest level 82 percentage points higher than that of worldwide online consumers as a whole.

Latin America scores 109 on the index, showing slightly higher than average interest in tablet PCs. Asia-Pacific and Europe both come in slightly below average with scores of 91 each, while North America lags considerably with an index score of only 73.

Top 3 Nations from MEAP
As would be expected, the individual nations with the three highest Index of Ownership + Definite Purchase Intent for Tablet PC by Market scores are all located in the MEAP region. Pakistan leads with a score of 209, followed by Saudi Arabia (200) and Egypt (191).

Somewhat surprisingly, an Asia-Pacific nation, Taiwan, ties Egypt for third place on the index. Venezuela, a Latin American nation, follows with a much lower score of 173. Interestingly, two European countries, Italy and Germany, tie with the Asia-Pacific nation of India for the next spot with scores of 155.

The US has an index score of 82, while its northern neighbour Canada significantly drags down the overall North American regional index score with a market index score of 55. Two European nations, Finland and Hungary, tie for last place with anaemic index scores of 27.

What Makes Social Media Trustworthy?

Venues and relationships affect how social media users perceive advice

One thing that makes social media marketing powerful is consumers’ trust in “people like them”—their friends, family and other online peers. Marketers want to tap into that trust through the power of earned media or by engaging in a conversation with consumers, but where social conversations take place has an effect on their perceived trustworthiness as well as who is taking part in them.

A study of frequent social media users by market research firm Invoke Solutions found that the most trusted information was posted by people respondents knew. But blog posts were more likely to be trusted “completely” than posts on Facebook, and trust dropped off sharply when it came to Twitter, even among friends.

Postings by brands or companies were trusted less, but levels were similar whether companies posted to Facebook or blogs. Online community sites did not hold the same trustworthiness as Facebook or blogs, whether postings were made by companies or fellow members, and respondents had an even more skeptical eye for independent bloggers. And across all categories of content creator, Twitter streams were trusted less than other media.

Asked to rate what was most important to making social sites trustworthy, users’ top concerns were that the dialogue be open to both positive and negative comments, the quality of content and the responsiveness of the content creator. These all point to best practices for companies participating in social media, which must show they are willing to deal with consumer complaints in a constructive way and be authentically involved in the conversation with social site visitors.

Some other seeming signs of authenticity mattered less to users, however, including length of participation and number of participants.

Twitter Use More than Doubles

Usage of Twitter has more than doubled in the past year, according to new data from comScore.

In June 2010, nearly 93 million internet users worldwide visited Twitter.com. This marked an increase of 109% from the previous year, as the social networking site achieved strong gains across all global regions.

Latin American Twitter Use Increases Sixfold
An analysis of the five major global regions revealed that Latin America experienced the strongest audience growth between June 2009 and June 2010, surging 305% to 15.4 million users. Asia Pacific ranked as the second-fastest growing region, climbing 243% to 25.1 million visitors. The Middle East and Africa jumped 142% to 5 million visitors, while Europe soared 106% to 22.5 million visitors.

North America, where Twitter has reached a higher maturity level than other regions, saw a growth of 22% to nearly 25 million visitors in June 2010.

Indonesia, Brazil, Venezuela Boast Highest Twitter Penetration
Across the 41 individual countries currently reported by comScore, Indonesia had the highest proportion of its home and work Internet audience visiting Twitter.com (20.8%). Brazil ranked second with 20.5%, followed by Venezuela at 19%. With Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez joining Twitter in late April 2010, Twitter.com penetration in the country spiked 4.8 percentage points in a few months.

The Netherlands (17.7%) and Japan (16.8%) rounded out the top five, while countries in Latin America and Asia Pacific represented many of the remaining top markets, including the Philippines (14.8%), Mexico (13.4%) and Singapore (13.3%).

Canada ranked seventh with 13.5% Twitter.com penetration, while the US ranked 11th with 11.9%.

Smartphones Drive Mobile Twitter Adoption in US and Europe
An analysis of Twitter usage via mobile for the six mobile markets currently reported by comScore (U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Spain and Italy) revealed that Twitter is gaining adoption among smartphone users.

In the US, 8.3% of smartphone users (4.2 million people) accessed Twitter.com in a month via the browser on their mobile devices, outpacing each of the European markets. In Europe, 2.8% of smartphone users overall accessed Twitter.com (1.7 million users), with the UK experiencing the strongest penetration in the region at 5.8%, followed by Germany with 3.1% and France with 2.1%.

Twitter Has Higher Global Reach for Women
Twitter has a marginally higher reach among women than men globally, according to another recent study from comScore. “How Women Are Shaping the Internet” indicates that despite Twitter’s status as a new technology, which is typically tried earlier by men, on a global level, more women are using Twitter. Among all women age 15 and older, Twitter had a reach of about 7% in April 2010, compared to a reach of roughly 6.5% among men age 15 and older.

Social Media Training Day Kuala Lumpur & Singapore

I just wanted to say what a buzz we all had at the Trueventus Social Media MBA that took place last week in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The team on both days were really involved and participated in each session making them very enjoyable from my point of view as the presenter of the sessions.

As you can see from the attached photo we all really enjoyed each of the 4 sessions on the day and I look forward to more of the same in the not to distant future.

The next round of sessions take place in Fiji on the 23rd and 24th August with our 3 day MBA for Marketing professionals course in Dubai kicking off on 19th to 22nd of September.

Fiji is full but there is a small number of places left for the Dubai sessions, to book or to get a brochure outlining the 3 day event, please visit the following link http://www.trueventus.com/event.php?intid=12 

I hope to see you there.

Men More Mobile

Men hold a dominant share in usage of many mobile technologies, according to a new study from comScore.

Men Make Up 6 in 10 US Smartphone Users
“How Women Are Shaping the Internet” indicates that in both the US and Europe, smartphone usage is dominated by men. In the US, there is a fairly consistent 60/40 split, but in Europe the skew toward male users is slightly more pronounced, hovering around 63% compared to 37%.

comScore analysis suggests that the greater likelihood of men to be early technology adopters may explain at least part of this gender imbalance. However, comScore also says that a propensity for men to be higher wage-earners, as well as a greater share of men who have at least part of their mobile phone bill paid by their employer, could also contribute to higher male usage of more expensive smartphones.

Mobile Net Services Skew Male
Mobile Internet services (browsing, apps, and email) skew 65-70% male. However, some activities, such as playing mobile games, making ringtones, and listening to music, skew more female.

Mobile social networking has fairly even gender usage, with women accounting for about 45% of mobile social networking activity. It is also the activity with the youngest participants, averaging 29 years old, compared to an average age of 32 for mobile games (which skews about 50% female). Unsurprisingly, more expensive activities tend to have users with an older average age, and are also more likely to skew male.

Mobile Internet Demographics Reflect Cost
The age difference between PC and mobile Internet users is indicative of the need for money when browsing on the mobile device (e.g., advanced device and data plans). Women’s adoption of mobile social networking, however, is a clear indicator that mobile Internet services are moving out of early adopter mode and into the mainstream.

Men Spend More Time Viewing Online Video
Although gender rates for viewing online video are similar, men spend more time watching, according to other results from “How Women Are Shaping the Internet.” The study indicates that in nine countries and Hong Kong, virtually the same percentage of online males and females watch online video. In every instance, roughly 80% of both online men and women watch online video.

While rates of watching online video are similar, and in some areas women actually watch at a slightly higher rate, in all 10 areas researched by comScore men spend much more time on average watching online video than women.

In the US, men watch more than 15 hours of online video per month, roughly triple the average time spent by women. Similarly wide discrepancies exist in the other three countries where online video consumption is the heaviest: Canada, Germany, and the UK.

Heavy Twitter Users Bring Social Activity to New Heights

Daily users comment and upload content at least twice as much as average

eMarketer estimates there are 26 million monthly users of Twitter in 2010. That makes users of the microblogging service a relatively small minority of internet users, at 14.6%, and daily users are naturally even fewer in number. But their voice is disproportionately loud.

According to ExactTarget, daily Twitter users are highly active across the social web. They are about three times as likely as internet users on average to upload photos, four times as likely to blog, three times as likely to post ratings and reviews, and nearly six times as likely to upload articles.

They create, share and comment on content at high rates, making them valuable to marketers for much more than their potential influence on Twitter alone.

“Consumers active on Twitter are clearly the most influential online,” said Morgan Stewart, principal at ExactTarget’s research and education group, in a statement. “What happens on Twitter doesn’t stay on Twitter. While the number of active Twitter users is less than Facebook or email, the concentration of highly engaged and influential content creators is unrivaled—it’s become the gathering place for content creators whose influence spills over into every other corner of the internet.”

ExactTarget also explored Twitter users’ motivations for following companies and brands on the service. In a deeper drilldown into consumer sentiment than previous research has conducted, the April 2010 study supported the general findings that microbloggers have many reasons to follow brands they like. While discounts and sales are toward the top of the list, finding out news and information about the company and its products come out ahead.

According to 360i, 75% of marketers’ tweets are informational, suggesting brands are responding to what consumers want—though they largely neglect to participate in conversations. Such deeper engagement might help them harness the power of frequent Twitter users across their other social activities as well.

Social Sites Get People Talking, but Marketers Must Earn Trust

Word-of-mouth may not translate to loyalty

Social media is a hot topic in marketing circles, but many consumers are also discussing the trend, which accounts for nearly 23% of time spent online in the US, according to Nielsen.

An April 2010 survey conducted by Harris Interactive for the Online Publishers Association (OPA) found that social media sites were the most talked-about on the web, ahead of portals and top media sites that are members of the OPA in discussions on a wide variety of channels.

All those conversations, whether in person, via email, on the phone or elsewhere on the web, however, don’t make social site visitors loyal—internet users expressed the least loyalty for such properties, compared with portals or OPA member sites. They were also most likely to say social sites were not a very good fit for their information and entertainment needs.

The OPA’s findings are in line with the annual customer satisfaction report from ForeSee Results that found Facebook among the most disliked sites on the web after its many disagreements with its own user community and several privacy debacles.

According to the OPA, negative feelings about social sites may also apply to the brands that advertise there. Only 8% of internet users felt social media site advertisers were reputable, compared with a 21% average for content sites. They also felt advertising on social sites was less relevant and the companies that did so were less respected.

The answer for brands is to continue a greater focus on non-advertising marketing activities, engaging on the social media user’s terms. And marketers should remember that while loyalty to individual social properties may be low and site users dissatisfied, the activities that have come to define social media— connecting with friends and family and sharing information and content with a trusted group—will remain important in the lives of millions of internet users and continue to provide avenues for brand engagement.

Twitter Followers Seek Info, Value

Twitter followers are most interested in receiving information about a brand or extra value, according to a new study from digital marketing firms ExactTarget and CoTweet.

Followers Want Return for Following
“Subscribers, Fans and Followers: Twitter X-Factors” indicates the largest single percentage of Twitter users who follow a company, brand or association on Twitter are motivated to do so by a desire to get updates on future products (38%). Another 32% want to get more information about the activities of a company.

Following these two informational reasons, the next-highest percentage of Twitter users follows a company to receive discounts and promotions (31%). Thirty percent want to get information on upcoming sales, and 28% want to receive “freebies” such as coupons and samples.

Most of the other reasons for following a company on Twitter have some type of informational aspect (such as learning more about a company, 25%, and learning about company topics, 14%). Viral marketers have some work to do, as only 23% want to show support of a company to others and only 20% want to interact with a company.

The most popular reason to follow a company on Twitter with no direct informational or financial benefit is for fun and entertainment (26%).

Daily Twitter Users Contribute Socially
While a relatively low percentage of Twitter users follow a company to spread its praises, daily Twitter users are highly social in terms of general online information-sharing. For example, 80% of daily Twitter users comment on photos and videos, compared to 38% of other consumers.

Similar wide disparities exist across a range of online social activities, with notably high percentages of daily Twitter users engaging in activities such as uploading photos (76%), posting to forums (75%), blogging (70%), and posting ratings and reviews (61%).

Engage Daily Twitter Users
ExactTarget says the key to successfully integrating Twitter into overall marketing strategy is to not approach this channel as a way to maintain direct relationships with the majority of customers. Instead, ExactTarget advises companies commit to serving customers who do use Twitter on a daily basis. They control and influence the content that others are reading about a brand—which can directly impact the bottom line. And if marketers use Twitter appropriately with this important audience, they can add depth and character to customer relationships.

Twitter Has Higher Global Reach for Women
Twitter has a marginally higher reach among women than men globally, according to a new study from comScore. “How Women Are Shaping the Internet” indicates that despite Twitter’s status as a new technology, which is typically tried earlier by men, on a global level, more women are using Twitter. Among all women age 15 and older, Twitter had a reach of about 7% in April 2010, compared to a reach of roughly 6.5% among men age 15 and older.

In the US, Twitter’s reach has followed a less consistent pattern, with Twitter’s reach among men slightly less than 12% in April 2010, fractionally higher than its reach among women.

Twitter Has Higher Global Reach for Women

Twitter has a marginally higher reach among women than men globally, according to a new study from comScore.

Twitter Reaches More Women 15-plus
“How Women Are Shaping the Internet” indicates that despite Twitter’s status as a new technology, which is typically tried earlier by men, on a global level, more women are using Twitter. Among all women age 15 and older, Twitter had a reach of about 7% in April 2010, compared to a reach of roughly 6.5% among men age 15 and older.

Twitter’s reach growth among women and men globally has followed an even pattern, reaching less than 1% of both genders in November 2008 and growing at a steady pace among both genders, with women maintaining a slight lead the entire time.

Men Outpace Women in US
Globally, women slightly outpace men in adoption of Twitter, but this varies greatly by region and country. In the US, Twitter’s reach has followed a less consistent pattern, with women initially leading men in November 2008 (reach among both genders was approximately 1%), and the genders then trading the lead several times up to April 2010, when Twitter’s reach among men was slightly less than 12%, fractionally higher than its reach among women.

In contrast, Twitter has had a notably higher reach among Australian women since April 2009 (6% to 5%). In April 2010, Twitter reached more than 7% of Australian women, about one percentage point higher than its reach among Australian men.

The difference is even more pronounced in Singapore, where as of April 2010 Twitter reached 14% of women but only about 10% of men. Gender trends in Germany, Japan and the UK more closely resemble global trends.

Women Find Promotions
In the US, there are fairly significant differences in how men and women use Twitter. For example, 16% of women use Twitter to find sales, deals and special promotions, compared to 12% of men. Women are also more likely to use Twitter to follow celebrities (18%-14%) and converse with other users (18%-16%).

On the other hand, men lead in using Twitter for activities such as posting their own tweets (38%-29%), finding breaking news (23%-13%), and following favorite sports teams (15%-8%).

Women Do More Social Networking
Social networking sites generally reach a higher percentage of women than men globally, according to other results from this study. “How Women Are Shaping the Internet” indicates 75.8% of all women online visited a social networking site in May 2010, compared to 69.7% of men. Globally, women demonstrate higher levels of engagement with social networking sites than men.

Although women account for 47.9% of total unique visitors to the social networking category, they consume 57% of pages and account for nearly 57% of total minutes spent on these sites.

Geolocation Grows Despite Privacy Concerns

Two in five mobile owners use location-aware services

As some marketers wonder about the possible audience for check-in services like foursquare, which reached 2 million users and 100 million check-ins in July 2010, mobile owners are getting used to sharing their location in many ways regardless of their privacy worries.

According to a survey by security software company Webroot, 39% of social network users who own a mobile internet device use geolocation.

But there was widespread concern over the loss of privacy, the possibility of being hacked on an unsecured network and other safety issues. Women tended to be more worried than men, and younger users less concerned than their older peers.

Still, many smartphone owners are taking advantage of the features location-aware services can offer. The most popular activity was letting friends know where they were, done by 19.2% of respondents at least daily. More than 15% of respondents reported checking in at locations at least daily.

Among younger adults ages 18 to 29, those percentages were higher: 24.5% and 17%, respectively. In that age group, men were about twice as likely to participate in the activity daily than women.

The most popular geolocation apps included Google Latitude, used by about three in 10 respondents. Flickr, which geotags photos, and Google Buzz were each used by about two in 10. Twitter, which geolocates tweets, was popular with fewer than 15% of respondents, while about half as many used foursquare.

Forrester Research also found men and younger adults dominated the location-based landscape. That study, of the wider group of US internet users, found that only 4% had used check-in apps like foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt, and only 1% checked in at least weekly.

Smartphone users who are already interested in social activities are at the leading edge in geolocation, and despite concerns of their own may pave the way for a larger audience to feel comfortable sharing where they are.

Social Media Training Courses

The next full day Social Media training course for CEO’s and Marketing Professionals takes place on Wednesday the 4th of August at the Park Royal Hotel Kuala Lumpur,followed by Friday the 6th of August in Singapore at the Novotel Clarke Quay.

Other dates include Dubai on the 21st September 2010, bookings now available.

Your presenter for these informative marketing and social media seminars is Mike Andrew.

For more information or bookings please visit this link http://www.trueventus.com/