Social Consumers and Smartphones 2011

Social Consumers and Smartphones 2011

In fall 2011, the Pivot Conference undertook a two-part study of the state of Social. The purpose of the study was to glean what Social Professionals felt about Social Consumers, their activities today and likely status one year from now and, separately, to gauge the current actiivities and attitudes of Social Consumers themselves.

The Social Professional perspective was released in early December 2011 in the report: The State of Social Marketing: 2012. This current report, by contrast, examines the responses from Social Consumers themselves about what they are doing and where. In an upcoming report we will compare and analyze the two sets of responses side-by-side.

This research was undertaken in partnership with Crowdtap, a social marketing platform that enables major brands and agencies to identify and connect with their influential consumers. Us-ing the Crowdtap system, Pivot launched a series of questions that overlapped those asked of Social Professionals in Pivot’s companion research. The research was in the field from October 6, 2011 to October 17, 2011. The number of respondents, along with their basic demographic characteristics are shown in the responses to each question.

Due to the abundance of studies focusing on Social activities on the Web, Pivot focused on the less intensely studied, but increasingly central Social mobile space. In the summer of 2011, the most common info travelling over the Internet became a video bit aimed for a mobile device. In other words, the median of the Net moved from PCs to cell phones, indicating where Social Consumers are now focusing their time and attention. So, it seemed appropriate to get an initial sense of their Social mobile experience.

Social Consumers favor iPhones for accessing Social media apps. While numerous market reports have shown that Android Smartphones significantly outrank iPhones in market penetra-tion, respondents to the survey most often use iPhones for apps, with Android second. Beyond those two platforms, Social Consumers seem to have little interest. This is a two-horse race.

Facebook Mobile heavily dominates as the most common app accessed by Social Consumers on Smartphones, with more than 80 percent penetration. Unsurprisingly, Twitter comes second, though the gap is surprisingly large. Also surprising is the strength of Foursquare and Gow-alla, indications of the increasing value of geo-centric apps. Facebook’s acquisition of Gowalla, which occurred after this survey was fielded, should increase its dominance in this space. The 13 percent who use none of the apps is interesting. Possibly, this indicates that for some Social Consumers the stream remains primarily PC-centric.

When it comes to games, Social Consumers favor Zynga. But, what is more interesting is the strength of ngmoco. This Japanese game company has barely announced itself in the U.S. and yet has already made an impression. This may point to a challenge for Zynga in maintaining its edge in the space, especially as it takes on the burdens of being a public company. ngmoco is already public and solidly profitable in Japan and so may have an edge in a public battle with Zynga, which will be under heavy pressure to maximize profitability following its recent IPO.

Social Consumers are significantly less active with photo services than in other app areas; a majority aren’t doing this activity at all yet. Among those that are active, no single player seems to have a firm hold. It appears that Social Consumers are still making their minds up on the value of photo services and which one to use.

Groupon and Coupons.com are the favorite apps Social Consumers turn to for deals. Of particu-lar note, is the strength of Facebook Deals. Facebook closed this service going into fall 2011, just as this survey was fielded. What might appear to be a big win was seen by Facebook as less valuable than other available opportunities. This could be because Facebook decided it could make more money encouraging many partners to make offers on its platform; it certainly wasn’t because consumers weren’t responding to the service. A vast majority of Social Consum-ers use online deal sites; the “don’t use” response is among the lowest in the survey. Also, given the high numbers for several players, it seems probable that the typical Social Consumer uses several couponing sites.

While Google has no presence in deals, when it comes down to checking price, nearly 8 out of 10 Social Consumers turn to Google. Google’s dominance in price comparison rivals Face-book’s overall penetration. Google is even stronger than Amazon, the dominant seller, which makes sense if one of the most common activities is checking whether there is a better price available somewhere on the net than Amazon offers.

Social Consumers are coming to demand deals or other loyalty benefits as a requirement for engaging with brands. Deals dominate at 83 percent positive response, with loyalty not far behind at 70 percent of respondents. However, these are the leaders in a broad field of benefits Social Consumers seek. Content shows support as does the opportunity for Social Consumers to be invited to provide insight on unreleased products. In sum, the results show a Social Con-sumer who equates engagement with being treated by a brand as someone deserving of spe-cial treatment.

What kinds of media do Social Consumers share with those in their Social graphs? Two aspects jump out of the responses here. First, nearly a third of Social Consumers say they don’t share and want their information and activities kept private. This indicates that, while virtually everone is active in Social networks, many remain passive receivers of information and haven’t yet fully dived into the give-and-take of the stream. Among those who do share, it seems that they are open to sharing numerous media types as well as location information.

Overall, this research indicates a close correlation between Social and mobile among consum-ers. They are two sides of the same coin. Smartphones and other mobile devices provide one more, uniquely geographically enhanced, access point into the Social stream. Social activities represent a strong thrust for app usage on mobile devices. While the research did not specifi-cally delve into this question directly, we see the interplay between mobile and Social growing ever closer and deeper in the months ahead. Taken together, they represent, in our view, the essential thrust of technology development for consumers.