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[In]Sight: The Great Divide<br>
by Graeme Hutton, August 2008 issue<br><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
"It's a country whose average broadband speed is 30 times slower than the</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
world's leader. Some say that online video will cause its Internet service to</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
grind to a halt. And its population lives in ignorance of the wide choices</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
available to the rest of the world. Welcome to the United States of America."</span><br>
-Spencer Kelly, host of BBC World News television program Click, April 3,<br>
2008<br>
In earlier columns, I have shown that contrary to popular perception, the<br>
average U.S. consumer lags behind the typical global user in his use of mobile<br>
media. But never have I seen it put so forcefully and by such a respected<br>
global news organization as the BBC (see inset). I doubt any of us would agree<br>
with the implication that, digitally, the U.S. consumer is backward.<br>
Universal McCann's latest edition of its global digital research series,<br>
Wave, spans 29 countries and 17,000 respondents and confirms earlier recognized<br>
trends: On every social media metric we measured, the average U.S. consumer<br>
typically adopts slower. That said, the rate of change in the United States is<br>
highly dynamic, and at some levels it's moving at a breathtaking pace.<br>
For example, in the States, video clip viewing has more than doubled from 32<br>
percent in September 2006 to 74 percent earlier this year. Similarly,<br>
downloading podcasts has more than doubled, from 12 percent to 28 percent over the<br>
same period. RSS subscriptions and blog writing are moving swiftly to<br>
all-time highs.<br>
Interrogating the differences between the United States and the rest of<br>
world, we see that this country performs relatively better in what we call<br>
passive social media (e.g., watching video clips or visiting a friend's social<br>
network page). Conversely, the United States performs comparatively worse in<br>
what we term active social media (e.g., managing a social network profile or<br>
making a phone call using the computer). On the surface, the U.S. consumer<br>
appears to be more inclined to be a social media voyeur.<br>
However, at a much deeper level, media carve out powerful, emotionally<br>
ingrained habits. These emotional attachments and habits don't change overnight.<br>
Yet ultimately, change they will.<br>
Interestingly, one major area where entrenched human motivations can<br>
immediately be seen in the U.S. social media is in gender. Men are still from Mars<br>
and women from Venus - even in cyberspace. There is a clear inverse<br>
relationship between men and women in the types of activities they prefer. Men are much<br>
more likely to be involved in geeky Internet activities, such as uploading a<br>
video (30 percent of men vs. 20 percent of women) or downloading a podcast<br>
(38 percent of men vs. 21 percent of women). By contrast, women tend to read<br>
personal blogs, visit a friend's social network profile or manage their own.<br>
Women quite clearly see social media for what they are: devices that can<br>
extend or facilitate social interaction and understanding.<br>
When we look specifically at blog topics, we see clear patterns emerge which<br>
amplify the differences between the two genders. As in life, men gravitate<br>
to the physical and tangible: They demonstrate greater interest in issues like<br>
technology, business and science. Blogs by friends and family appeal more to<br>
women.<br>
We see a correlation between what is important to female and male consumers<br>
offline and what content they consume online. For example, Universal McCann's<br>
qualitative research shows women take a much greater active interest in<br>
planning vacations than men, which translates to women's preference for travel<br>
blogs. The blog topics that appeal to women are precisely the ones men show the<br>
least interest in.<br>
Overall, the United States enjoys a vibrant social media ecosystem.<br>
Streaming video leads the way in shaping how social media are swiftly growing to<br>
become an integral element of our mass media ecology. But perhaps it is gender -<br>
and the innate differences in how men and women use social media - that<br>
confirms that while digital media is starting to fuel macro changes in behavior,<br>
deeper and more profound human motivations still fundamentally define who we<br>
are, and who we want to be.<br>
Graeme Hutton is senior vice president and director of consumer insights at<br>
Universal McCann. (<a href="mailto:graeme.hutton@universalmccann.com">graeme.hutton@universalmccann.com</a>)<br>
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</div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>==========================================<br>J. T. Johnson<br>Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA<br><a href="http://www.analyticjournalism.com">www.analyticjournalism.com</a><br>
505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h)<br><a href="http://www.jtjohnson.com">http://www.jtjohnson.com</a> <a href="mailto:tom@jtjohnson.com">tom@jtjohnson.com</a><br><br>"You never change things by fighting the existing reality.<br>
To change something, build a new model that makes the<br>existing model obsolete."<br>-- Buckminster Fuller<br>==========================================<br>
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