Only 33% of People Use Social Media for Business Purposes

Sites include Facebook.com , themarketingdistillery.com . Published on October 10th, 2012. Written by Anthony West.

The ubiquity of platforms like Facebook and Twitter sometimes gives the impression that everyone and his (or her) dog is a member of social network. According to The Marketing Distillery (TMD), however, this is not the case. In fact, TMD has gathered data to show that social media and social networking isn’t doing much to improve our lives.

The claim is bold but here is what TMD found. The average person belongs to 1.8 social networks (round it out to 2 since social networks don’t come in parts); 67% of social networking users don’t use their accounts for professional or business activities. Most social networking users don’t actively engage in meeting people offline for business (only 15% say they have had at least one meeting of this type).

But perhaps the biggest revelation coming out of the TMD report is the fact that most people (72%) believe that conversations are ‘richer’ when they have them in person. Social media evangelists may disagree and perhaps even be dismayed but in natural terms, that’s how conversations were meant to be had. Human beings are a social species and the wedge that technology has driven between ‘real’ human interactions is helpful for commerce but terrible for societal health.

Social media will no doubt continue to shape the way we interact with each other, but it should by no means define it.