More at: http://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-analytics/the-science-of-sharing/

Research from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) launched today suggests that consumers see tablets as the perfect device for late evening use when in front of the TV.

The study from research company Sparkler in partnership with panel providers On Device Research, found that 51% of all tablet uses occurred in front of the TV. In fact, tablet owners are 50% more likely to use their tablet in this situation than their mobile (35%) or PC (33%).

More than 50% of tablet interactions were found to take place in the late evening (between 7 - 12pm) resulting in tablets being the most used device amongst owners in the evening. Tablet usage then accelerates during the weekends with 25% of respondents choosing to use their device during their downtime and 49% agreeing the tablet is the device that best allows them to be entertained.

More at: http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/8473-iab-research-says-tablets-are-perfect-downtime-devices

Let’s consider the news media sector. From a pure quantitative standpoint, Facebook remains a solid referral for news sites as people “Like” and link to stories. But Facebook encourages fly-bys, ie viewers that won’t stay on the site. Twitter’s referrals to news content are of a different nature. Tweets and retweeets usually come from people who have chosen to follow a given individual, a news organisation or a specific subject. The referral is therefore much sharper, more targeted than the impulsive “throw-on-my-Facebook-wall” type.

For what it worth, let’s look at an essay published last Saturday in the Wall Street Journal. Titled Why Can’t Wall Street Handle the Truth, it is written by Mike Mayo, a long-time analyst who made repeated calls to dump bank stocks.

The essay generated 795 Facebook “likes” – which is small for a story that is freely available in the WSJ Social Facebook application:

In the meantime, the same piece (and the mention of Mayo’s book) has been indexed 140,000 times in Google, thanks to only 392 tweets.

Still using the Wall Street Journal as an example, let’s have look at Walt Mossberg’s presence (he is the Journal’s world-famous tech writer). On Facebook, his page has 874 “likes”. On the WSJ Social application, where Mossberg appears as an editor, he has 252 readers and the app has been able to collect a total “23K readers”

Not very compelling.

But, on Twitter, Mossberg has 264,000 followers.

Another key element in Twitter’s favour: the mobile factor. Twitter’s 140-character format turned out to be a killer on smartphones: according to recent ComScore study, about 13.5% of Twitter users are mobile ones, vs 7% for Facebook and 5% for LinkedIn. And the microblogging service is growing faster on mobile (+75% year on year) than LinkedIn (+69%) and Facebook (+50%). That’s the privilege of simplicity and straightforwardness over feature-itis.

More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/nov/07/twitter-facebook?

10 Quick Facts You Should Know About Consumer Behavior on Twitter View more presentations from Constant Contact

Over a quarter of adults (27 per cent) and almost half of teenagers (47 per cent) now own a smartphone, according to Ofcom’s latest Communications Market Report.  

Most (59 per cent) have acquired their smartphone, which includes devices such as iPhones, Blackberrys and Android phones, over the past year. 

Users make significantly more calls and send more texts than regular mobile users (81 per cent of smartphone users make calls every day compared with 53 per cent of ‘regular’ users). 

Teenagers especially are ditching more traditional activities in favour of their smartphone, with 23 per cent claiming to watch less TV and 15 per cent admitting they read fewer books.

And when asked about the use of these devices, 37 per cent of adults and 60 per cent of teens admit they are ‘highly addicted’.   

In the bathroom and at the dinner table

The rapid growth in the use of smartphones – which offer internet access, email and a variety of internet-based applications – is changing the way many of us, particularly teenagers, act in social situations.

The vast majority of smartphone users (81 per cent) have their mobile switched on all of the time, even when they are in bed, with four in ten adults (38 per cent) and teens (40 per cent) admitting using their smartphone after it woke them.

Over half (51 per cent) of adults and two thirds (65 per cent) of teenagers say they have used their smartphone while socialising with others, nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of adults and a third (34 per cent) of teenagers have used them during mealtimes and over a fifth (22 per cent) of adult and nearly half (47 per cent) of teenage smartphone users admitted using or answering their handset in the bathroom or toilet.

Teenagers are also more likely to use their smartphone in places they’ve been asked to switch their phone off such as the cinema or library – with 27 per cent admitting doing so, compared with 18 per cent of adults.

More at: http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2011/08/a-nation-addicted-to-smartphones/

Journalists are increasingly turning to social media to verify stories, research has found.

According to the fourth International Study of Journalists study by the Oriella PR Network the use of blogs, Facebook and Twitter are becoming more common in being used to source and verify news stories with 47% of respondents saying they used Twitter and 35% using Facebook when searching for news.

478 journalists from 15 countries responded to the survey, with 42% admitting that they had drawn information from blogs that had not previously visited before for news.

62% also said that PR representatives were used when sourcing stories, while another 59% cited corporate spokespeople as sources. 

When it came to validating stories already in progress, one third of respondents said that they used Twitter, a quarter cited Facebook and another quarter said they used Blogs.

Consumers are more open than ever to engaging with companies via new media (86 percent vs. 78 percent in 2009), but it still takes a big effort on the part of the company to reach the upper echelons of the consideration set. To stand out, companies need to incentivize new followers. Before deciding whether to engage with companies online, 77 percent of new media users look for free products, coupons or discounts. And they expect to find them in the following places:

• Social networks – 48%
• Mobile devices – 20%
• Message boards – 20%
• Blogs – 13%
• Online games – 12%

…

Nearly two-thirds (59%) of new media users say they are satisfied with their online experiences with companies, but that doesn’t mean they won’t hesitate to punish companies by disengaging. More than half of users will stop following a company if it acts irresponsibly toward its consumers (58%), over-communicates with them (58%) or provides irrelevant content (53%). Under-communicating (36%) or censoring user-generated content (28%) is also grounds for falling out of favor.

Companies that can deliver high-quality customer experiences are richly rewarded. Users who engage with companies via new media are more likely to:

• Share information about the company across their own social networks – 62%
• Feel a stronger connection to the company – 61%
• Feel better served by the company – 60%
• Purchase the company’s products or services – 59%

…

About the Research
The 2010 Cone Consumer New Media Study presents the findings of an online survey conducted September 9-10, 2010 by ORC among a demographically representative U.S. sample of 1,050 adults comprising 505 men and 545 women 18 years of age and older. The margin of error associated with a sample of this size is ± 3%.