It’s been a tricky few weeks for Facebook. The privacy concerns that have been sweeping through social media land culminated in ‘Quit Facebook Day’ on 31st May. But, the social giant will be pleased to hear that only 0.008% of its users actually left the site on Monday and overall, numbers still keep rising.
Further research released today suggests that marketers too are still increasing their use of the social network. Omniture’s 2010 “Online Analytics Benchmark Survey” found that 69% of the 600 marketers (in the US) they surveyed claimed to be using social media in their marketing efforts. Of these, 63% ranked Facebook as the most important site for that activity, followed by blogs at 40%, and “other” sites at 34%. Just 28% of respondents ranked Twitter as most important.
Of course, this is painting with a very broad brush and picking the right channel for the right audience is always the most important point. But, anyone that thought Facebook was beginning its demise needs to think again. There’s life in the (relatively) old dog yet and for marketers and their audiences, Facebook is certainly still the future.