Stats for the social media doubters

Ever run into those Doubting Thomases? You know, the ones who pooh-pooh social media. They dismiss Twitter as a place where people only talk about what they had for lunch. They define Facebook as a time-waster frequented by people from their past, folks they’d hoped to elude for good. They don’t read them-there blobs, er blogs.

Here are some nuggets from Boot Camp Digital that you might want to share with them:

 

• Social media has overtaken porn as the No. 1 activity online.
• More people check Facebook each day than listen to the radio or read a newspaper.
• More people use social networks than e-mail.

If that doesn’t wow them, you could try these:

• 75 percent of adults 18-24 have a profile on a social networking site.
• 80 percent of Generation X (33-44) Internet users buy products online.
• 96 percent of millennials have joined a social network.
• 26 billion videos are viewed per month in the United States alone. (Online video is more th 60  percent of all Internet traffic.)

And you could add these stats:

Years to reach 50 million users:
* Radio, 38 years
* Television, 14 years
* Internet, 4 years
* iPod, 3 years
Facebook added more than 200 million users in less than a year.

Give them a taste of what’s coming with these mobile numbers:

• There are four times as many mobile users as Internet users.
• 33 percent of phones use high-speed data service (iPhone, BlackBerry, Android).
• Over 3 billion iPhone apps have been downloaded.

If that doesn’t erase some doubts, just sit back and be patient. Tell them what you’re having for lunch. Invite one of their old “friends.” Post a picture of them on your blog. Share a video….