SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--140 Proof, the company that uses social data to connect individuals with relevant messages, today revealed the findings of a new study in partnership with IPG Media Lab, a division of IPG Mediabrands. The research, which centered on the ways users share their different interests across multiple social networks, reveals evidence of “social hygiene” — active management of who people connect with and what they share and engage with on different social platforms — indicating that users are taking a conscious approach to each platform and their relationships with brands.
Multi-platform use is dominant among today’s social network users, as over half the US online adult population uses two or more social platforms to best serve their various interests (comScore, March 2014), with 23% of those using seven or more platforms. The study surveyed 500 people over the age of 18, looking for individuals who were active within two or more social networks, inclusive of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest, amongst others. In addition to the quantitative research, social media diaries were collected. The intention was to understand why people maintain multiple social profiles, and to provide insight into how companies can best market to these multi-platform users.
“This research highlights our need as marketers to evolve our approach to understanding consumer interests,” said Kara Manatt, VP, Consumer Research Strategy at IPG Media Lab. “If we truly want to understand consumers as individuals, we can’t simply rely on a single social network to paint the full picture. Each social network may only offer a piece to that puzzle.”
“More than ever before, the results of this study point to the need for marketers to embrace social data as the best way to understand the individual at the other end of the ad server,” said Jon Elvekrog, CEO and Co-founder at 140 Proof. “As an increasing number of consumers create profiles on multiple networks and use social IDs to sign into mobile apps, the social ID will replace the cookie and lead to fine-grained targeting and ad management, which has historically been difficult in mobile. By examining an individual’s interests holistically across networks, marketers will be able to connect with the right audience at the right time.”
Key findings from the study include:
- “Likes” and “follows” aren’t forever - 61% of multi-platform users have un-liked or un-followed a brand when there is decreased relevance for them
- Social is mobile and mobile is social - 67% of respondents indicated that they use their social accounts to sign in to mobile applications like news, music, and gaming apps, with 91% of those respondents finding it valuable to connect to other apps via their social accounts. This allows a large number of apps to benefit from advanced audience targeting.
- People convey different interests on different platforms - Multi-platform users tap into each network for various reasons. Of those surveyed, 56% use four or more social platforms, while 23% use seven or more. Furthermore, 60% of respondents agreed that they connect with different types of people, media, and brands on different social platforms, which implies that users are making intentional decisions to expose different aspects of their identity on specific networks.
- Social connections are fully visible across platforms - The proliferation of social networks has led people to connect to different types of people on different platforms. Multi-channel users select networks based on the nature of relationship they are pursuing. The full scope of an individual's interests cannot be deduced from a single network, as 43% of respondents said that the more social platforms you connect with them on, the better you know them. An almost equal number said that people who follow them on social networks know them better than their friends who do not.
For summary with key takeaways and text to the full report, please visit: http://labt.ag/1lUH5i0
About 140 Proof
140 Proof created Blended Interest Graph technology to combine public data from social platforms and enable large brand advertisers to target native social ads to groups of people based on the interests they express in tweets, follows, pins, likes, tumbls, check-ins and the rest of their social activity. Founded in 2010, 140 Proof draws from over 3 billion interest signals every day and has analyzed over 560 million social network users. With reach to 62 million monthly uniques across our platform of apps and sites, 140 Proof has run campaigns for some of the largest brand advertisers, across verticals such as CPG, consumer electronics, technology, entertainment, finance, and more. Offices are located in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, and Los Angeles. More at http://www.140proof.com or follow @140proof.
About IPG Media Lab
The IPG Media Lab is equal parts think tank, real-world proving ground, and change enabler. We provide agencies and media operators with the power to harness emerging communication opportunities by offering expertise, resources and consulting services tailored to drive quantifiable outcomes, learnings and strategies. The IPG Media Lab is part of IPG Mediabrands, the media innovation and investment arm of IPG. For more information, please visit www.ipglab.com or follow @ipglab
