The rise of social media

According to a recent Ofcom report, we are all spending more time watching TV and using mobiles and other communication devices. In fact, on average we spend 45% of our waking hours on these activities. As you would expect, the statistics vary across gender and age categories with men spending an hour a day more on social media activities than women. Overall the 18-24 age group lead the way although the over 50s are catching up fast.

Whilst TV at just under 4 hours per day accounts for a major proportion of our time, social media communications are catching up fast, partly driven by the increased use of smart phones.

This Ofcom report coincides with a worldwide survey by Gartner which reported that in the second quarter of 2010, worldwide sales of mobile devices increased by 13.8% over the same period in 2009. Smart phone sales accounted for a massive 19% of overall sales, with smart phone sales increasing by 50% over the same period last year. The Ofcom report backs this up, reporting that just over a quarter of all people in the UK now have a smart phone which they are actively using to send texts and e-mails and surf the net.

The good news for all is that both the Gartner and Ofcom reports concluded that although sales are up, prices are being driven down due to competition and currency fluctuations. In the UK, consumers are also benefiting from the availability of bundled services, taking combinations of phone, internet and TV in the same package. The take up on these tends to be higher in the cities with the rural population having less access to fast broadband, 3G phone signals and choice of suppliers.

Whilst the Ofcom report concentrated on individuals, businesses too are benefiting from the availability of bundled services. The take up of combined services such as VoIP phones, virtual switchboards and call recording is increasing steadily as businesses realise the benefits that the internet and broadband can bring.

One perhaps surprising statistic to come out of the Ofcom survey is the amount that we multi-task, looking at television, sending texts and chatting on social networks at the same time. Here the 18-24 age group lead the way, managing to pack 9.5 hours of media into 6.5 hours of real time. With social networking accounting for nearly a quarter of all time spent on the internet the once predicted fear of the computer bringing social isolation may be a thing of the past.