Emails Vs. Online Social Networking Websites
by Marsha Maung

I’d like to talk about something really interesting about the use of the internet for socializing and business purposes today. For one, we all know that the number of people who are using the internet to market themselves and make friends have increased by leaps and bounds. The limit? The Universe, perhaps. It’s become so phenomenal that the growth in members for online social networks have exploded beyond the point of recognition.

But let’s just say it’s to be expected. After all, with the financial crunch, more people are moving out of conventional media to the online one. One advertising and media executive (who happens to be my neighbor) was telling me, “Gee….nobody, literally nobody is asking about printing in newspapers and magazines anymore. Aren’t you making truckloads by now since everyone’s hopping into your bandwagon and out of mine?”

Er….not really. The obstacle that I have to overcome, to name a few, would be….

• People with sound knowledge
• People who are unscrupulous
• Qualification
• Experience
• Willingness to learn and knowing how to adopt proper ways to make full use of online social networking sites
• An overwhelming response met with reluctants and failure to admit that traceability remains to be a problem.

In 2009, the Pew Research Center reveals that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of adults who have set up profiles in social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Multiply, etc. The number? Thirty-five percent! That’s a huge leap, let me just tell you that. Before this, we would be popping the bottle when the percentage was anywhere near five percent. In 2005, reports came back and said that the increase was eight percent and we were jiggying it all the way down to Happy Hour!

The increase is equal between men and women….which is thirty-five percent. What surprised me more was the seven percent increase in the number of elderly people who use the internet….these are people who are sixty-five years old and above we’re talking about! They probably have their very own blog or website all set up ready to rock and roll even as I am typing out this article!!

The biggest leap can be seen from people within the within the eighteen to twenty-four years old age group. Twenty-five to Thirty-Four year olds are not too far behind with an increase of fifty-seven percent. These are probably working professionals or business people we’re talking about who are exploring ways to expand their corporate horizons and business options.

These people spend ten percent of their time on the internet using emails, blogs, websites and online socializing website. Long time ago, it used to be for research, studies and work! John Burbank from Nielsen Online says that they show no sign of slowing down despite the financial crunch. The harder the crunch, the bigger the internet is going to get.

And here’s the cruncher, more than two years ago, people mainly communicated with each other via emails….that’s their primary form of keeping in touch with each other. In 2007, the use of online social networking site have increased so much that it’s almost parallel with email usage!

Can you see what lies ahead of us if we’re in the internet marketing and online social networking consultancy business? Be still my heart!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marsha Maung is a Malaysian-based freelance web copywriter with two kids. She spends her time ferrying her kids around, watering her plants, writing web content, SEO stuff, ghostwriting books and also indulges in the occasional Facebook-ing. Visit her blog for more dirty details on the life and times of a mother, writer, designer, housekeeper, coffee-maker, poop-wiper, chef...and just about everything else under the sun.

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<b>Marsha Maung</b> is a Malaysian-based <a href="http://www.marshamaung.com" target="_blank">freelance writer</a> with two kids. She spends her time ferrying her kids around, watering her plants, writing web content, SEO stuff, ghostwriting books and also indulges in the occasional Facebook-ing. Visit her <a href="http://www.marshamaung.blogspot.com" target="_blank">blog</a> for more dirty details on the life and times of a mother, writer, designer, housekeeper, coffee-maker, poop-wiper, chef...and just about everything else under the sun.