Strawberry ~ Social Network Preference Study

I enjoy reading various study results because they feed my curiosity. My attention is usually caught by topics related to health, relationships, psychology and family life. Social interactions are also on the list of "things i would like to learn more about," so this study by Anderson Analytics is very interesting to me. Mr. Anderson and his team conducted a study about social network users and their preferences. Further, they analysed the results to create mini user profiles by the user's network of choice.

I remember creating my first accounts at Myspace and Friendster. Both subscriptions were inspired by my friends. I liked the idea that now I could connect with them in yet another way besides meeting in person, talking on the phone, and sending emails or texts. Myspace seemed so chaotic to me. Too much was going on there. No wonder, I really wanted to sing up for Facebook when I first saw it. Of course I had to wait until everyone was finally able to sign up, since my undergraduate university was too small to make the Facebook accepted list.

Enough time has passed since the introduction of social networks, so now user preferences are worth exploring. As a marketer at heart, I see how user profiles per favorite network can be useful for targeting purposes or just good consumer behavior information for the sake of knowledge. I think that Anderson's profiles are pretty close to what my own assumptions about the network users would be. People on LinkedIn are there for business (professional reasons) and the rest of their profile goes with a business person's habits. Myspace is vibrant, colorful and loud, so naturally it draws a younger and more fleeting crowd. Facebook is too large to pin down because even the anti-social people are on it, hidden or otherwise. Now Twitter is a new breed and its members rank high on liking news about many topics. That is what I like Twitter most for: being in the know about what you want, at a moment's notice, short and tweet.

If you are a fan of social networking or know someone who is, give this article on AdAge a quick read. It may inspire thoughts or conversations.