State of our Social Media World: superb ‘Wave 5’ study by UM

I’ve long been a fan of Universal McCann’s ‘Wave’ studies which analyse how we’re using the web in our daily lives. Now in it’s fifth instalment, Wave is the largest and longest-running dedicated social media study in the world, and it’s a goldmine of fascinating facts that helps us understand how our use of social networks and related technologies is shifting.

Interestingly, there’s no sign of an adoption slow down in the latest data. On the contrary, just over 80% of internet users now claim to have visited a friend’s social network page, up from just over 70% in the previous study, and over 70% now manage their own profile on a social network page.

And the power of social networks to deliver against multiple and varied needs is laid out very clearly in the research. While blogs and video sites are great for certain tasks, it’s the social networks themselves, now serving as a hub for a huge range of Internet activities, that perform best against almost every usage requirement:

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Download the full Wave 5 report for free at: http://www.umww.com/london/knowledge/view?Id=151

[Disclosure: Universal McCann is Microsoft’s global media buying agency]