There is fair amount of research into the use of social media by the world's populace as a whole, but the 'The Social Mind' research study is of interest because it concentrates on professional use and assessment of social media. The Social Mind research project was designed to explore and understand these social media interrelationships between professionals and how social media affects the way information is delivered and consumed amongst this group.
Vanessa diMauro from LeaderNetworks, Don Bulmer and Peter Auditore (all Society for New Communications Research fellows) surveyed more than 400 mostly professional and highly educated people in North America - most with at least a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree - who actively participate in social media networks.
As Vanessa says:
Social business is dynamically changing the face of human interaction and communications globally. The emergence of new social behaviors and interrelationships between individuals, organizations, thought leaders and influencers are evolving in new and previously unforeseen ways primarily because of social media networks and peer group ... Social Mind findings will enable B2B, B2P, B2C or cause marketers to understand the importance and relevance of content - and - its ultimate impact and influence on behaviors, beliefs, decisions and actions.
Some of the key findings from the report are:
- Online social networking is reaching critical mass - 97% of those surveyed already use online social networks to exchange information, primarily on a professional basis.
- Respondents use Twitter to communicate with professional social networks; Facebook with wider friendship groups; and email to have the more personal and deeper communication with family.
- Twitter and blogs are as important as the company website to this audience, in particular to those classified as 'Social Media Influencers'
- Only 19% of respondents rely on traditional news and information sources - a massive shift in information flow. Journalism is not a considered the only source of truth - instead it's a single point of input into the larger self-education approach.
- Respondents found greater value in content curated by experts (rather than that pushed to them by the media) in order to discover the information they need.
- Information with graphics is preferred, with links and bookmarks which allow self-led further exploration.