A new study of social media, the Canadian Social Media Reality Check, shows that these communications platforms are growing into an important part of life for many Canadians.

The survey, conducted with both consumers and public relations professionals, asked consumers about their use of social media while asking PR practitioners to predict how consumers would respond to the same questions.

The research identified some interesting gaps between the way consumers use this new technology and the perceived value of the technology amongst PR professionals.

The study found that social media has had an impact on consumer buying behaviour, with 61 per cent of those who use social media indicating that they turn to their online networks when making a purchase decision.

Do consumers agree that social media is more credible than paid advertising? Here an interesting difference emerged. While 55 per cent of practitioners predicted that consumers would agree, only 31 per cent consumer social media users actually did.

It is surprising that recommendations from friends and colleagues don't rate higher than advertisements among consumers. This could be an indicator that social media is still new for mainstream consumers.

Also surprising was the finding that older social media users, those 45 years and older, were more likely to use online channels to research products than younger users.

Other research highlights:

• Practitioners are more likely to use social media on a daily basis, with 62 per cent indicating that they use it at least once a day, compared to 49 per cent for consumers.
• 63% of consumer social media users use social media to keep up-to-date on news and information; 40% are using it to engage with organizations in a dialogue.
• Facebook is the most popular social media space for consumer social media users (77%) followed by YouTube (65%) and MySpace (20%).
• 42% of consumer social media users 45 years and older are likely to use online channels to research products, significantly more than younger users.
• 69% of PR practitioners feel they understand social media but could be using it more effectively
• seventy per cent of PR practitioners indicated that they do not have a tool to monitor social media.
• only 29% of PR practitioners know who their organization's key online influencers are

The Social Media Reality Check Study was completed as a partnership project between Leger Marketing and CNW Group.

Full findings from the study will be published as part of a joint webinar to be hosted by CNW Group and Leger Marketing on April 29, 2009. For a copy of the survey findings or to register for the webinar, visit www.newswire.ca/socialmediarealitycheck.

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