Top takeaways from Nielsen Q3 social media report 2011

She is aged between 18 and 34 years old. She is Asian or a Pacific Islander. She lives in New England, holds at least a bachelor’s degree and earns under $50,000 a year. Who is she? The person most likely to be visiting social networks and reading blogs, according to Nielsen.

Nielsen’s State of the Media: The Social Media Report, Q3 2011, offers this titillating profile of the active social networker, along with detailed analysis of the current state of social.

Findings of the new US-based study include the news that blog posts and social network messages reach nearly 80% of Americans and account for nearly one quarter of time spent online. Drilling deeper, we find that social networks take up 22.5% of our online time, trailed in second place by online gaming at 9.8%.

Other top takeaways from Nielsen include:

1. Americans spend more time on Facebook than any other US website. The social site now reaches 70% of active US internet users, who spent 53.5 billion minutes Facebooking in May 2011 alone.

2. Social media users are the most likely to share their opinions and influence others, specifically creating product reviews (60%), swapping views on current affairs (26%) and TV programmes (33%).

3. Importantly, over half (54%) of active social networkers follow a brand online. Ensure your social media strategy captures feedback from this highly vocal and visible group, using this precious mine of information to influence other users.

4. Mobile access to social is growing. In fact, social networking apps are currently the second-most valued apps among US smartphone users. Harness this growing potential to reach shoppers right in the aisles with opinions and reviews that could influence their purchase decisions.

Weaving throughout the raft of facts presented by Nielsen is a sense that as social media advances, its influence on consumer behaviour is growing – both online and offline. For marketers, the impact is clear: it is now more important than ever to understand where and how consumers are interacting with brands and sharing content.

View the complete report here.