Last week, Jeremiah Owyang over at Web Strategist posted some new social technographics data from a recent study by Forrester Research. I previously posted about Forrester and the great work they do in analyzing social media user demographics with my assessment of Groundswell Part 1 and Part 2. When I think about “bleeding edge” leaders with regard to social media trends and strategy, Jeremiah and the folks at Forrester are some of the first that come to mind.
Based on a consumer poll from the second quarter of 2008, a major finding in Forrester’s study shows that 75% of Internet users are engaging in some form of social media, up from 56% in 2007. More specifically, significant increases occurred in the “critics” and “spectators” categories, ultimately meaning more people are posting comments and reviews as well as generally engaging social media content more often.
The smallest increase was among the “creator” category which some, including Wired, are attributing to a strong movement towards “brevity” instead of lengthy blog posts. In other words, critics such as Paul Boutin anticipate a larger shift away from traditional blogs to heavier use of micro-blogging platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.
It’s an interesting point to raise. Any blogger will tell you that it can easily take between 1-2 hours to craft a good post after devoting ample time to research, thought organization and editing. Personally, I think there is still incredible value to blogs, especially given the state of traditional media and the shift we’re all experiencing with how we consume news and information online. Whether blogs are intended to break news, define trends, index personal research or fulfill some other purpose, they serve the greater good of aggregating the wealth of incredible knowledge out there that in the past may have had limited access or exposure.
What are your thoughts? Have blogs hit their peak or is the trend still picking up pace?
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