Web Secret #73: Social Media Is Not a Fad

I am always trying to succinctly explain to Baby Boomer non believers why social media is relevant to them.

And then I Stumbled Upon Erik Qualman's brilliantly executed video "Statistics Show Social Media Is Bigger Than You Think" which deftly answers the question "Is Social Media a Fad or the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?" using statistics.

I have pared down Qualman's 37 stats to just 10 of the most compelling:

1. Years to Reach 50 millions Users:

• Radio (38 Years)
  
• TV (13 Years),
  
• Internet (4 Years)
  
• iPod (3 Years)
  
• Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months
  
• iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months

2. If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 4th largest between the United States and Indonesia

3. 1 in 6 higher education students are enrolled in online curriculum

4. % of companies using LinkedIn as a primary tool to find employees…80%

5. The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females
Boomers - are you listening?

6. Ashton Kutcher and Ellen Degeneres have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of Ireland, Norway and Panama

7. Generation Y and Z consider e-mail passé… In 2009 Boston College stopped distributing e-mail addresses to incoming freshmen
Pay attention - people born after 1985 do not read e-mail

8. The #2 largest search engine in the world is YouTube

9. Facebook users translated the site from English to Spanish via a Wiki in less than 4 weeks at a cost to Facebook of $0

10. 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations. Only 14% trust advertisements.

Qualman's conclusion: social media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.

Stay tuned...