Abstract
If anything justifies the use of the word ' phenomenon' it is the growth of online social networking seen in the UK over the past year to 18 months. Metrics data report triple-digit annual growth in traffic and ' Facebook' made it into the 2008 Collins English Dictionary as both a noun and a verb. As it says on the PG Tips monkey' s T-shirt: "I Facebooked your mum."
Following this period of explosive - and truly ' viral' - growth, the online social networking sector finds itself at a fascinating point in its development. The expansion graph has now levelled off to leave the main players competing for market share rather than new users, corporate activity increasing and the first signs of market fragmentation beginning to appear. In short: the market appears to be already mature.
What happens next is less clear, but potentially just as exciting as the growth period that has just passed. Mobile represents the great frontier, but remains tantalisingly out of reach; newly open development platforms look certain to enhance the sector' s reputation for application innovation, and investment in back-end technology will push back the boundaries of what is possible: a personalised social operating system pulling together the user' s presence on all their preferred online media - the ultimate open platform.
This report takes a snapshot of the current shape of this fast-moving sector and assesses the direction it may take in future by testing the hypothesis that "the emergence of online social networking is transforming the way we communicate and how we spend our leisure time, on- and offline".
Key themes of the report:
- How has the rise of social networking affected traditional leisure activities?
- Is social networking affecting the time spent on other Internet activities, like email?
- What are the differences between users and non-users of social networks?
- What are the differences between users of leading social networking sites?
- Is social networking necessarily limited to the young, technology-savvy consumer?
- What is the commercial appeal of social networking for advertisers?
- Which factors have been most important in driving up levels of social networking?
- Where are the main competitive pressures for social media coming from?
Table of Contents
- Issues in the Market
- Main issues
- Definition
- Abbreviations
- Market in Brief
- Growth stalls as market races to maturity
- Mobile the springboard for future success
- New competition builds alternative routes to the future
- Security and privacy issues: Education and verification
- Market share the new social media battleground
- Your social network: resource or communication tool?
- Downscale demographics can dent advertiser appeal
- Networking acquires a social conscience
- Innovation the name of the social media game
- Broader Market Environment
- Key points
- Increasing penetration of broadband
- Figure 1: Percentage of adults with access to broadband and dial-up Internet at home, 2003-07
- Broadband take-up drives networking
- Focus switching from quantity to quality
- Increasing penetration of PCs
- Figure 2: Household ownership of PCs, 2002-07
- Computer users increasingly mobile
- Online networking: Anti-social for the PC industry?
- Mobile networking
- Flat-rate Internet access key to the future of mobile networking
- Consumers want to network on the move
- Rising PDI
- Figure 3: Total PDI, consumer expenditure and savings, 2003-13
- An ageing population
- Figure 4: Population, by age group, 2002-13
- Older consumers see value in online networking
- The ' digital divide' switches from age to connectivity
- An expanding population
- Girls on board
- Rising number of one-person households
- Figure 5: Total number of UK households and one-person households, 1991-2013
- Online networking connects people living alone
- Open platforms open new commercial possibilities
- Gaming a driver of network use among men
- Safety and privacy
- Reports generate prospect of some regulation
- Members feel safe, value privacy
- Multimedia potential: Is networking a winning formula offline?
- Marketing
- Data and demographics give networks advertiser appeal
- Integrating brands
- The application of e-commerce
- Word of mouse from the recommendation generation
- Hyper-targeting
- Competitive Context
- Key points
- Internal competition: Antisocial media?
- The future: dedication, convenience or utility?
- External competition: the rest of the web
- Who' s Innovating?
- Search and ye shall find (social networks)
- Advertisers' eggs-cuse me...
- Do your own Ning
- Networks in residence
- Loan arrangers
- Social history
- Does my bum look big in this?
- Market Size and Forecast
- Key points
- Figure 6: Social networking websites, total unique visitors, July 2007-February 2008
- The past: We have lift-off
- The present: Pause for thought
- Quality, not quantity
- The future: Big and clever
- Bigger...
- ...smarter
- Market Share
- Key points
- Gain share, raise engagement
- Facebook and Bebo joust for leadership
- Figure 7: Social networking websites, market share (unique visitors), February 2007-February 2008
- More people seeing a specialist
- Figure 8: Social networking websites, growth in market share (visits), February 2007-February 2008
- Companies and Products
- Figure 9: Online social network membership numbers, 2008
- Friends Reunited
- Bebo
- MySpace
- Faceparty
- Second Life
- Who Uses Social Networking Websites?
- Key points
- Networking provides a social service
- Figure 21: Usage of social networking websites, by gender and age, March 2008
- Viral growth sweeps cities
- Figure 22: Social networking use by region, March 2008
- Who Uses Which Network?
- Key points
- Women looking beyond the mainstream?
- Figure 23: Penetration of social network sites, by gender, March 2008
- Some networks more attractive commercially than others
- Figure 24: Penetration of social network sites, by income and working status, March 2008
- Word of mouth drives clicks of mouse
- Where do we Network?
- Key point
- Figure 25: Where consumers access social networks, by frequency of usage, March 2008
- Consumers partition their media day
- Social media must hook up with mobile
- With Which Online Social Networks are Members Most Engaged?
- Key points
- Figure 26: Usage of social networking sites, March 2008
- Why is Facebook so addictive?
- Communication v resource
- How Do We Use Social Networks?
- Key points
- Figure 27: Usage of social networking sites, March 2008
- Have I shown you my holiday snaps?
- A new view on engagement
- What Do We Do Outside Our Social Networks?
- Key point
- Mainstream networkers: Less active physically, more active online
- Figure 28: Leisure statements, by social networking site, March 2008
- Console-ation prize of younger networkers?
- Figure 29: Selected technology usage by choice of social networking site, March 2008
- Users gravitate to level of technical ability
- Figure 30: Selected online activities in the last three months, by choice of social networking site, March 2008
- More Time Social Networking, Less Time Doing What?
- Key point
- Figure 31: Activities doing less of as a result of social networking use, March 2008
- Communicate to accumulate
- Going out not going out of fashion
- Online social (security) networking
- Fewer calls waiting
- Figure 32: Making fewer mobile/landline calls as a result of social networking use, March 2008
- Slow death for instant messaging?
- Figure 33: Doing less instant messaging as a result of social network use, March 2008
- What Do We Think About Online Social Networks?
- Key points
- Figure 34: Attitudes towards social networking websites, March 2008
- Users take control of their own privacy
- Figure 35: Attitudes towards social networking security by usage rates, March 2008
- The wisdom of avoiding crowds
- Figure 36: Perception that there are too many people on social networks these days, by usage rates, March 2008
- Email sends defiant message
- Exclusive offers for advertisers
- Figure 37: Selected attitudes towards social networking websites, by socio-economic group, March 2008
- Women wary online
- Figure 38: Selected attitudes towards social networking websites, by gender, March 2008
- Sign up for adult education
- Figure 39: Worries about children using social networking, by presence of children and age, March 2008
- Social Networking and the Young
- Key points
- Figure 40: Social networking sites currently used, March 2008
- Figure 41: Activities on social networking websites, March 2008
- Mobile social media makes happy snappers
- Gdbi 2 txt?
- Figure 42: Attitudes towards social networking sites, March 2008
- No privacy on a mobile
- Teens favour an always-on network
- Figure 43: Social networking sites currently used, by demographics, March 2008
- Boys and girls come out to play
- Minimum age compliance a significant issue
- Figure 44: Activities on social networking websites, by demographics, March 2008
- Content preferences create greater engagement among girls
- Interest in offline media persists
- Social Networking Attitudinal Groups
- Key points
- Group 1: Carefree Neutrals
- Group 2: Not for me, thanks
- Group 3: Fans & Addicts
- Group 4: The Weary & The Hesitant
- Figure 45: Demographic analysis of target group membership, March 2008
- Target groups forecast
- Internet penetration growth slowing
- Figure 46: users, by age group, 2003-13
- Social networking users to increase by a quarter by 2013
- Figure 47: Forecast of attitudinal group sizes, 2008 and 2013
- Attitudes polarised
- Only two in ten surfers will be non-members
- Methodology
- Figure 48: Social network groups by frequency of usage
- Figure 49: Groups by Social networking site users
- Figure 50: What social networking sites Mintel' s groups are more likely to belong to
- Figure 51: Target groups and their change of habits due to social networking
- Figure 52: How groups use social networking sites
- Figure 53: Where groups access social networking sites
- Appendix -- Who Uses Social Networking Websites?
- Figure 54: Usage of social networking websites, by demographic analysis, March 2008
- Appendix -- Who Uses Which Network?
- Figure 55: Users of different social networks, by demographic analysis, March 2008
- Appendix -- With Which Online Social Networks are Members Most Engaged?
- Figure 56: Usage of social networking sites, March 2008
- Appendix -- How Do We Use Social Networks?
- Figure 57: Usage of social networking sites, March 2008
- Appendix -- What Do We Do Outside Our Social Networks?
- Figure 58: Leisure statements, by social networking site, March 2008
- Figure 59: Leisure activities, by social networking site, March 2008
- Figure 60: Technology usage, by choice of social networking site, March 2008
- Figure 61: Online activities in the last three months, by choice of social networking site, March 2008
- Figure 62: Activities doing less of as a result of social networking use, March 2008
- Appendix -- More Time Social Networking, Less Time Doing What?
- Figure 63: Activities doing less of as a result of social networking use, March 2008
- Appendix -- What Do We Think About Online Social Networks?
- Figure 64: All users' attitudes towards social networking websites, by demographic analysis, March 2008Figure 65: Further user attitudes towards social networking websites, by demographic analysis, March 2008
- Figure 66: Further user attitudes towards social networking websites, by demographic analysis, March 2008Figure 67: Further user attitudes towards social networking websites, by demographic analysis, March 2008
