Social Media Sites: Everybody's Doing It

“Come on…everybody’s doing it!”

When it comes to social media, the old peer pressure cliché may be right on the mark.

According to a new nationwide survey, some 43% of online households use social media sites, including Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter (I’ve listed them in order of popularity). This is up from 27% just a year ago.

And they tend to be regular users, with more than half logging in every day and usually several times a day. Though we may assume that the vast majority of social networkers are under 35, the number of networkers over age 55 has tripled in the past year to 19%.

Besides using the social media sites to connect with old friends and classmates, the survey respondents said they would like more access and interaction with favorite companies and service providers through their social networks.

Yes, you heard that right. Social networkers WANT to interact with favorite companies and service providers.

It's clear that social media sites are ripe for marketers. If you haven’t already incorporated social media tactics into your marketing plan, now is the time (BrightBlue can help, of course).

Come on…everybody’s doing it!

The survey of 10,000 U.S.households was conducted by The Conference Board, a global membership and research association, in partnership with TNS, a global market insight and information group.