Almost nine in ten online Americans (87%) use social media and, of these, there are different levels of connection they feel with various groups.
- Over half say they feel very connected or connected to close friends (58%) and immediate family (52%), while 42% say they feel this way about extended family through their social media use.
- Around one-third of social media users feel connected or very connected through social media to friends of friends and/or acquaintances (36%) and old classmates (32%).
- For business, the same feeling of connection is not quite there yet, as only one in five social media users (19%) say they feel very connected or connected through social media use to business associates.
Source: Harris Poll Oct 2010
Are we losing our ability to communicate face-to-face ?
Social media users also have preferences for how they want to connect with people.
. But, this is very age driven, as well. Three in five 18-34 year olds (59%) say they prefer to interact with acquaintances using social media rather than face-to-face compared to 38% of those 45-54 years old and 25% of those 55 and older.
What does this mean for marketers ? People tend to be passive aggressive on social media and as thus they could throw darts at brands and products that they probably would not do in person. Brands have to be able to diffuse possible complaints from customers before they go viral and cause extensive damage to companies. The question is which ones do you respond do and which ones do you take seriously? That's a gamble at best. Your goal should be to do whatever you have to do to improve customer service and keep customers. This is why you need trained people on social media who are empowered to keep customers happy.
