Facebook More Popular Than TV During Daytime
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CREDIT: Dreamstime.com
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Americans are using the social media site Facebook more than they watch TV during the day. That's the finding of new research that reveals that between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., 15- to 46-year-olds use Facebook more than they watch television. The study probably comes as no surprise to frustrated bosses who are grappling with the issue of how to manage employee social media access at work .
These findings, which were part of The Frank N Magid Associates Generational Strategies study, highlights the power of Facebook and the opportunity it presents for marketers looking to target the social network's 800 million users. Facebook has become the most effective means for reaching a large audience during normal working hours, according to the research, presented by eMarketer.
"It comes as no surprise that Facebook is used more during the day than TV," Ben Grossman, communication strategist for Oxford Communications, told BusinessNewsDaily."What marketers are seeing is a great way to reach people throughout the work day instead of waiting until the night."
Millennials represented the largest daily Facebook users, with 30 percent of teen millennials (ages 15 to 17) and 44 percent of adult millennials (ages 18 to 34) checking the social network during working hours. These numbers were contrasted by 24 percent of teen millennials and 32 percent of adult millennials who watched TV during the same time. Gen Xers also picked Facebook over TV 32 percent to 28 percent.
"Facebook is not necessarily a strategy anymore," said Matt Britton, chief executive officer of Mr. Youth, a boutique agency which specializes in marketing to millennials . "It's sort of like ground zero in terms of reaching [the millennial] audience."
Baby boomers represented the exception to the findings with more boomers choosing TV over Facebook 35 percent to 26 percent during the day.
The research also found that TV remains king during primetime as all generations reported higher TV viewership from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. than Facebook usage.
"This study should be really eye-opening for advertisers in that it shows what people are doing when they consume their messages," said Grossman. "If your message isn't relevant to your target audience, it is going to be skipped over or ignored completely."
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