By: Aaron Mann

Sarah Perez over at ReadWriteWeb  did a great job of covering a new study by Anderson Analytics looking into the demo and psycho-graphics of users on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and MySpace.  her two part post "Who uses social networks and what are they like?" is well worth a read.

Of particular note is this chart showing the cross-pollination between networks:



A key component of Socialarc's campaign strategy development is Momentum Mapping - making messages and platforms work together to amplify the overall campaign impact.  Though just limited to 4 netowrks, this is a good illustration of why this is important, especially when you take into account that the  20% of Facebook also on Twitter is something like 20m users (or the majority of Twitter's traffic).  And of course there are a whole lot more than just 4 networks to work with.

For Brands and marketers there are also some other takeaways, including some statistical ambivalence over the role of Brands online:

Interacting with Brands

When it comes to brands online, the study found that:

• 52% of social networkers had friended or become a fan of at least one brand,


• 17% felt positive when seeing a brand on a social network,


• 19% felt negative when seeing a brand on a social network,


• 64% were neutral or didn't care about brands on social networks,


• 20% would like to see more communication from brands online,


• 35% would not like to see more communication,


• 45% were neutral or didn't care.

We think this says more about how early-stage and experimental many Brand-specific social networking campaigns have been to date.  As Brands get smarter about how to connect with their audience in an authentic and meaningful way, we will see even more active customer enthusiasm.