Research from IDC says that more than half of Internet-enabled consumers are accessing social networking sites and that the penetration levels are continuing to increase.
According to the study , 57 per cent of users visit social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace at least once a day, with 38 per cent of users spending at least an hour on the service or simply staying logged in.
WorkLight, the business Web 2.0 specialist, says that these figures are something that marketing people need to sit up and take notice of.
David Lavenda, the firm's vice president of marketing and strategy, said that IDC's report also identified that these frequent users of social networking sites are less tolerant of online advertising than their other Internet peers.
This, he says, suggests that the marketing focus of firms wanting to promote their goods and services to the `Facebook generation' must now embrace the features of social networking sites themselves, including user groups and applications.
Only then, he explained, can companies hope to exploit the benefits that these sites bring to their accounts.
"And it's worth noting that, as well as increased sales, companies that fully embrace social networking portals can look forward to increased customer satisfaction levels - and a lower cost of customer interfacing - that these services engender".
"It really is a win-win situation for everyone using these portals. Just as users are changing their Internet habits, it's now time for companies to change theirs - and reap the benefits," he added.
By Steve Gold, News Editor
Copy this content onto your website
Paste this snippet to use content on your website:
Copy this content onto your website
Paste this snippet to use content on your website:
