Lately, there has been a lot of talk about social media fatigue. Research has shown that some users are simply burnt out from the phenomenon many internet experts said was hear to say. This is not too shocking considering that quite a few users have been plugged in since the good old days when Friendster and MySpace were all the rage. However, one social network people do not seem to be tired of, at least not yet, happens to be the current creme of the crop. You guessed it – we’re talking about Facebook.
According to recent survey, users are showing no signs of fatigue with uploading photos, sharing content, and other Facebook related activity. The survey, which was conducted by the Pew Research Center, is an indication that the social network is just as strong as ever. This is good news for Facebook, who needs all the momentum it can muster up with its IPO on the horizon. For marketers, it is more proof of why this is the platform to target with their social media marketing strategy.
The Ultimate Engagement Tool
The Pew report revealed some very interesting information beyond the fact that users are not experiencing burnout syndrome with Facebook. In fact, the survey shows that users are more engaged than ever. According to the findings, users actually perform activities such as liking content and pages, commenting on posts, sending private messages, and posting photos at a higher rate the more friends they have. Pew’s research revealed that the average member has the potential to reach approximately 156,000 other users via friends of friends. This is an indication that fans with the biggest network could be the most valuable to marketers.
Still Growing
Facebook is by far and away the largest social network in the world. The company claims it currently has roughly 845 million active members, 400 million of which use the site on a daily basis. Perhaps what is even more impressive than its size is the amount of time people are devoting to the Facebook experience. A report published by Nielsen showed that users in the U.S. are spending an average of well over six hours on the site per person on a monthly basis, which totals out to more than one billion hours per month. Sounds hard to believe, but it actually makes a lot of sense considering how simply posting a single update can easily lead to checking out a friend’s wall, viewing photos, and more.
The research the Pew Research Center conducted was based on a survey of 2,255 Facebook users in the U.S. who agreed to share their activity logs. While 2,255 is a long way off from 845 million, Pew’s initiative is a hint that we should not expect the bottom to fall out of the potentially soon to be publicly traded social networking company any time soon.
