Author: Jean Revell

MySpace and Facebook Each Represent Nearly 10 Percent of Total U.S. Online Display Ads Delivered

RESTON, VA, September 1, 2009 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world today released a study of U.S. online display advertising on social networking sites in June 2009, based on data from the comScore Ad Metrix service. The study showed that social networking sites accounted for more than 20 percent of all display ads viewed online, with MySpace and Facebook combining to deliver more than 80 percent of ads among sites in the social networking category.

“Over the past few years, social networking has become one of the most popular online activities, accounting for a significant portion of the time Internet users spend online and the pages they consume,” said Jeff Hackett, comScore senior vice president. “Social networking sites now account for one out of every five ads people view online. Because the top social media sites can deliver high reach and frequency against target segments at a low …

‘Member Communities’ have overtaken email to become the fourth most popular online category, according to a Nielsen Online report.

Comprising both social networks and blogs, ‘member communities’ are now visited by over two thirds (67%) of the global online population and are growing twice as fast as any of the other four largest online sectors (search, portals, PC software and email), according to the ‘Global Faces and Networked Places’ study.

The findings also indicate that time spent social networking is growing at three times the overall internet rate, accounting for almost 10% of all internet time, and that 35 to 49-year-olds are the fastest adopters of member communities.

Australians’ access of member communities lags a little behind global trends – although social networking and blogging activity was up 4.9% in 2008 to 59.9%, it remained around seven percentage points behind the global average, ranking Australia eighth out of the 10 countries surveyed.

“Social networking is becoming a fundamental part of the global online experience. While already two thirds of the global online population accesses member community sites, the vigorous adoption and migration of time shows no signs of slowing, and in Australia we certainly expect strong growth moving forward to bring us in line with global averages,” says Melanie Ingrey, director of market research for Nielsen Online.

According to the Nielsen report, Facebook is visited by three in every 10 internet users every month across the nine markets in which Nielsen tracks social networking use. Orkut in Brazil has the largest domestic online reach (70%) of any social network in …

Despite consumers flocking online, business’ are yet to fully embrace the opportunities that social media presents to them, citing confusion over measuring ROI and fear of negative feedback to Nielsen Online in their latest survey.

Nielsen Social MediaThe Nielsen-Community Engine 2010 Social Media Business Benchmarking Study found that 70 percent of Australian businesses intend to undertake some form of social media for their business, a significant increase from the 40 percent engaged in social media in 2008. This difference has been attributed to responsibility for social media growing beyond the marketing team and gaining increasing traction at board level.…

For all the praise that brand advertisers have for social media, they must be aware that it’s very much a double-edged sword. And for all the free marketing, advertising and brand promotion via Facebook (Facebook), Twitter (Twitter), Foursquare (Foursquare), and other platforms used to help build an identity and relationship with your customers, it can just as quickly turn on you and your brand.…

Australian companies have a low social media presence compared to other major markets, according to a new study.

The study found that just 40% of Australian companies have a social media presence, with the global average at 79%. PR firm Burson-Marsteller examined the social media presence of companies in Australia and the Asia Pacific region, using the Wall Street Journal’s Asia 200 Index to survey companies such as Woolworths, Qantas and Westpac.

The most used form of social media by the companies surveyed are microblogs at 30% and video sharing sites at 20%. The study found that of companies that did have a social media presence, 15% of those profiles were inactive, and 30% have integrated their profiles into their corporate sites.

The study found that companies are using social media as a way of disseminating information instead of engaging in a two-way conversation.

Burson-Marstellar Australia director of technology practice Stephanie Aye said: “True engagement involving two-way dialogue remains limited for Australian companies and those across the Asia Pacific region.

“Instead, companies are using social media to portray a ‘softer’ corporate image in a way that is less likely to invoke interaction or negative commentary.”

Burson-Marstellar Asia Pacific president and chief executive Bob Pickard said: “Few companies are approaching this area strategically; most appear largely driven by short-term marketing considerations, or are hampered by concerns about resourcing, cost or lack of control over message and content”.…

The social media phenomenon that has swept Australian consumers has been vigorously embraced by the corporate sector, with the number of organisations using social media almost doubling in the last two years, a new study has found.

The inaugural Nielsen-Community Engine 2010 Social Media Business Benchmarking Study found that 70 per cent of all Australian businesses intend conducting some form of social media activity this year, compared with just 40 per cent in 2008.

The Australian-first study, commissioned by social networking technology company Community Engine and conducted by research company Nielsen in February and March this year among 347 organisations, sought to determine, for the first time, how businesses were using, budgeting for and measuring social media.

The study found that many businesses are actively moving a significant percentage of marketing budgets out of traditional media into social media. The greatest shifts of budgets were out of print media (47 per cent) and direct marketing (33per cent).

Social media has become an important tool for organisations who also recognise that they risk failing to connect with a significant online constituency if they do not incorporate social media in their marketing.

However, the study found that many businesses are struggling with how to measure return on investment (ROI) in social media. For example, 29 per cent said they had either not measured ROI from their social media activity or did not know how to.

Community Engine managing director, Piers Hogarth-Scott said the study was the first in-depth look into the way Australian organisations are engaging with social media. The results, he …