Emerging trend among young social media users: They’re bored

Aug 23, 2011   //   by admin   //   Latest News, Social Media  //  No Comments
Is the novelty wearing off social media?That’s the question posed by communications consultant Mark Evans on the Sysomos blog this morning. Evans cited a new study by Gartner, which said that 31 percent of younger, more mobile, brand-conscious consumers are “getting bored with their social network.”

This new reality, the study added, is a situation that “social media providers should monitor, as they will need to innovate and diversify to keep consumer attention.”

Overall, 24 percent of respondents to the study said they are using their favorite social media sites less than when they joined. Meanwhile, 37 percent of respondents are using these sites more.

Evans said the results of this study are interesting, but not especially surprising.

“It illustrates that social media is no longer new and shiny,” he wrote. “Instead, it’s becoming part of the landscape. This isn’t a bad development but simply a reflection that as any technology evolves, its usage by different kind of people changes as well.”

Gartner, an information technology research company, surveyed 6,295 people between the ages of 13 and 74, in 11 developed and developing markets in December 2010 and January 2011.

Among business communicators, the advent of Google+ has sparked complaints about social media fatigue. Numerous bloggers, including the popular Mark Chris Brogan, have written posts on the subject. Earlier this month, Brogan said:

“One of the biggest pushbacks I hear from people when I talk about how wonderful I think Google+ will be for business professionals is that they’re tired. They’re tired of joining a new social network. They’re tired of going through the dance of re-adding their friends and connections on yet another platform. They’re tired of having to think up even more content for yet another platform, after having finally committed to Facebook or Twitter or wherever else.”

Brogan told his readers to battle this fatigue by analyzing their social media content and determining if the content is boring even them. “How could you move from ‘talking about what everyone else is talking about’ into talking about what’s next, what’s new, what’s personal, what’s helpful?” He wrote.

Are you suffering from social media fatigue? Have you found any ways to fight it?

Source: PR Daily, Michael Sebastian, 22 August 2011, http://www.prdaily.com/socialmedia/Articles/9301.aspx

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