Forrester: Privacy Concerns, Saturation Slowing Social Media Growth

While its long-term impact remains unclear, social media-related privacy concerns increased among all age demographics over the past year, according to new research from Forrester. No doubt, "this concern is altering behaviors," said Forrester analyst and report author Augie Ray.

Mounting concerns were most pronounced among Baby Boomers. In particular, concerns among older Boomers -- those ages 54 to 64 -- increased 32% to 50%, while concerns among younger Boomers -- those ages 44 to 53 -- increased from 31% to 39%.

Even among Generation Xers -- those 30 to 43 -- privacy concerns increased from 30% to 33% year-over-year, while the increase among Millennials -- those 18 to 29 -- was negligible from 29% to 30%.

Also of probable concern to platform providers and marketers, social media is reaching a saturation point, which means it's becoming harder to influence user behaviors.

It was easy to grow a brand's social media marketing program over the past few years," said Ray. A flood of new consumers entering social networks and other social venues provided a burgeoning audience."

Yet, "as saturation approaches, increasing the size of your base of fans, followers, and advocates will require new strategies, insights, and tools."

In 2007 -- the first year Forrester produced Social Technographics data -- just 25% of U.S. adults were Joiners, maintaining a profile on a social networking site. Today, that figure is 59%. To put that saturation point into perspective, just 71% of U.S. online adults use a search engine on a monthly basis.

Also of note, Forrester found that while Joiner behavior grew from 2009 to 2010, Spectator behavior decreased.

This means fewer online U.S. adults are reading blogs, online forums, and discussion groups; in fact, the only Spectator behavior that demonstrated growth in the past year was reading other people's updates on Twitter.

Overall, Ray added, "social media will continue to evolve as new technologies and tools are introduced, but the changes in the coming years will not be as great as in the past few."

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