The advertising and marketing worlds are far down the road to reaching today’s youth through the Internet; education is not. Morgan Stanley’s March 18, 2008 72-page Internet Trends report only mentions “education” once. You can see the mention in the above image at the the bottom of the box on the left by the blue square where it says “Work, Business, Education.” As the pie chart shows, education is only part of 6% of the “Worldwide Share of Online Time.” The chart also shows that social connections are how 15-24 year-olds are connecting online, in a category of use that did not exist 3 years ago.
For education to reach students via the Net, we would do well to drop in on what the advertising and marketing folks are learning about reaching people online through social networks. The following advice, called Join The Conversation, is from an email newsletter sent this week to subscribers by the Internet marketing firm Bruce Clay, Inc.:
At SMX Social, it was clear that engagement is built into the very fabric of social media. Highly interactive and gaining momentum, social networks are the gathering place for groups of like-minded individuals. If utilized properly, social media presents a golden opportunity for marketers. Of course, it’s the first part that’s tricky. Creating original and engaging linkbait, submitting relevant content to social bookmarking sites, and being present on networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn are all challenging and resource-intense projects, but hold the potential for huge returns.
In light of the Morgan Stanley report on Internet trends, marketers can’t afford to stay in the dark as far as social media is concerned. According to the study released last month, Internet users across the globe are spending 16 percent of their online time on social sites, like Facebook and YouTube. In fact, the study said that the combined number of page views for those two sites is higher than Google or Yahoo page views, possibly even combined. What’s remarkable is that the “Social Connections” category wasn’t even on the researcher’s radar three years ago. For quick highlights of the report, check out the story on TechCrunch.
