A third of Internet users visit social networking sites at least monthly, and 40 percent of email users visit social sites to gather product information and recommendations, according to a new study by Silverpop.
The study "Emails Gone Viral: Measuring ‘Share-to-Social’ Performance," found that shared emails delivered an average increase in reach of 24.3 percent and this is set to increase as sharing becomes more mainstream. On average, social sharing leads to an additional 1 percent of opens.
Social Networks Leaking Users Data To Tracking Sites
Many popular social networking sites typically make personal information available to companies that track users’ browsing habits and allow them to link anonymous browsing habits to specific people, according to a new study by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).
"When you sign up with a social networking site, you are assigned a unique identifier," says Craig Wills, professor of computer science at WPI.
Criminals Using Social Networks To Target People
Users of social networks are giving away vital information about themselves and their whereabouts that is being used by criminals to create a list of targets, according to a new report by the British-based insurance firm Legal & General.
The report "The Digital Criminal," found 38 percent of users of sites such as Facebook and Twitter have posted status updates detailing their vacation plans and 33 percent have posted status updates saying they are away for a weekend.
Content Sites More Popular Than Social Networks
The majority (53.1%) of Internet users belong to at least one social networking site, but the amount of time spent on the sites is somewhat short, compared to overall time spent online, according to a new report from Burst Media.
Among 18-34 year olds, 40 percent spend less than 30 minutes per day on sites like Facebook and MySpace. The top content categories for that demographic actively seek out entertainment news (48.6%), gaming (40.5%), local/national news (37.3%) and social media (35.5%).
Hulu Traffic Surpasses the Networks for First Time
Compete is pointing to some interesting data, and suggesting that Hulu’s "evil plot to take over the world" might just be working. The popular video site has surpassed NBC, FOX and ABC’s websites in traffic for the first time. And that was last month.
"The networks’ traffic declined during the summer rerun season, but Hulu seems relatively unaffected," notes Compete’s Seth Madison.
Purchasing Decisions Not Made Through Social Networks
While the majority (83%) of Internet users are actively involved in social media, less than 5 percent use social sites for research about making purchases, according to a new report from Knowledge Networks.
Additionally, only 16 percent of social media users say they are more likely to buy from companies that advertise on social sites.
Retailers’ Use Of Social Networks Encouraged
Even when consumers aren’t showering them with cash, retailers need to stay in touch, according to a new report. And Rockbridge Associates and the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business recommend that they do so by maintaining presences on social networking sites.
Study Looks at Advertiser Investments in Online Ad Networks
Results from an ad Network Study from Collective Media show that interactive agencies and advertisers continue to use and invest in online ad networks despite the current downturn in the economy.
Workers Sharing Too Much Information On Social Networks
More than half (63%) of system administrators are concerned that employees share too much personal information on their social networking profiles, putting company infrastructure at risk, according to a new survey by Sophos.
Ad Networks Continue To Grow In Popularity
Buying ads on ad networks is standard practice these days. In fact, according to an article from AdAge, 65% of ad buys will pass through ad networks in 2009. Even in tough times like these that’s a lot of money.