Social Media: Talk-A-Little, Pick-a-Little...

• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 28, 2011

A recent analysis by NM Incite and Nielsen shows how social media continues to influence how consumers interact with brands and share content every day, as TV viewers leverage social media as a platform to talk about and engage with TV content. These conversations are not only opening new channels for consumer engagement with their favorite TV shows and fellow fans, but also are providing insight into which viewers are driving the conversations and when, says the report. 

The social media population overall, skews slightly higher among females than males. However, when comparing this demographic split to that of the population on social media sites talking about TV, this split reverses skewing higher among males (55%), than females (45%).

There are several interesting demographic shifts when comparing general social media users and the portion of the population talking about TV specifically on social media, says the report. Those under age 18 account for 34% of the overall social media population, yet make up only 12% of the population on social media sites talking about TV. The opposite shift happens when focusing on the 25 – 34 year-old demographic. This age break comprises 17% of the overall social media population, but jumps to 29% of the makeup of the population on sites talking about TV. Within these age groups it’s interesting to note that, the difference in percentages across ethnic backgrounds remains relatively unchanged for African Americans, Asian, Hispanic and Whites.

Buzz is highest on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday coinciding with days when a lot of major shows air. TV buzz drops off on the weekend and increases once again as the middle of the week approaches. TV buzz closely mimics traditional ratings patterns as well as a show’s yearly cycle.

Research shows that TV buzz nears its high during September, says the report, right before a show premieres and during its initial month. Conversations taper off slightly over the ensuing months, but increase again in January with the introduction of new and returning shows. TV buzz then seems to peak during April and May as consumers respond to show finales, and then dips again during the summer

Consumers use social media to talk about a number of key TV-related topics such as winning (14%), voting (6%) and judging (6%), which highlight the appeal of and engagement consumers have with reality-based TV. Top genres fueling the most buzz are funny (10%), romance (8%) and drama (6%). Entertaining (11%), physical attractiveness (9%), fans (9%) and writers/creators (6%) round out the rest of top topics driving consumer discussion across social media.

For additional information from Nielsen, please visit here.