Tag Archives: Forrester-Research

Migrants, Not Geeks, Are the Early Adopters of Mobile Phones

Sunday, September 21st, 2008

(Cross-posted at my fellowship blog — How Global Values Shape Communications Technologies)

According to Swisscom anthropologist Stefana Broadbent, migrants, not geeks, are the early adopters of mobile phones (The Economist1 via 1 via Putting People First2) —

It is migrants, rather than geeks, who have emerged as the “most aggressive” adopters of new communications tools, says Broadbent. Dispersed families with strong ties and limited resources have taken to voice-over-internet services, IM and webcams, all of which are cheap or free. They also go online to get news or to download music from home.

Various studies (by Pew Internet & American Life Project3 and 3 and Forrester Research4 amongst others) have shown that Hispanics are more active users of mobile phones, and especially mobile data services, than other ethnic groups in the USA (via 4 amongst others) have shown that Hispanics are more active users of mobile phones, and especially mobile data services, than other ethnic groups in the USA (via San Fransisco Chronicle5 and 5 and Mobile Marketing Association6). This can be attributed to several reasons — economic (lower mean household income means that the mobile phone is often used as the main computer), demographic (family and friends are spread out across the United States and across the border), and cultural (a higher value is placed on staying in touch with family and friends).

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Everyone is a Creators Now! Really?

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

Quick Summary: Read my analysis on the real nature of engagement with social media amongst US Internet users.

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In a recent post, I had used the Forrester Research Social Technographics Profile Tool to compare the social technographics profiles for USA/ Europe with Japan/ Metro China.

Now, I have come across new data from eMarketer on the US internet users’ social media usage that doesn’t quite fit in with the Forrester Research data.

As per Forrester Research data —

- 19% of US internet users are Creators, who publish blogs, maintain websites, or upload self-created photos, podcasts or videos on social sites.

- 25% of US internet users are Critics, who post ratings and reviews of products and services on user review sites, comment on someone else’s blogs or contribute to online forums or wikis.

- 12% of US internet users are Collectors, who create metadata that’s shared with the entire community, by aggregating RSS feeds in a feed reader, by saving or tagging URLs on a social bookmarking service, or by voting for websites on a social voting site.

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The Social Web is Not Flat (Part 2): The Social Technographics Profile of Metro India

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

Quick Summary: I use data from various sources to estimate the social technographics profile for Metro India and compare it to Forrester Research’s social technographics profiles for Metro China.

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In my previous post, I had compared the social technographics profiles for USA/ Europe with Japan/ Metro China to kick off my series on why the social web is not flat.

The Forrester Research Social Technographics Ladder classifies consumers into six overlapping levels based on their of participation in social media –

Basically, Creators create the user generated content, Critics and Collectors help disseminate it and Spectators consume it. Joiners are a special species, specific to social networking sites, who play all the other four roles in that context.

I ended the post by wishing that this data was also available for India, or at least Metro India –

However, given the low penetration of internet, even in Metro India, I suspect that the Creators will be in low single digits, Critics/ Collectors in high single digits, and Joiners/ Spectators in low double digits.

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The Social Web is Not Flat (Part I): Forrester Research Social Technographics Profiles

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

Quick Summary: I use data from Forrester Research to compare the social technographics profiles for USA/ Europe with Japan/ Metro China to kick off my series on how the social web is not flat.

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Forrester Research analysts Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff have played an important role in increasing our understanding of the social media space over the last year, both through their book Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies (website) and their Social Technographics Study.

The Forrester Research Social Technographics Study classifies consumers into a ladder with six overlapping levels based on their of participation in social media. The six levels in the Social Technographics Ladder are –

1. Creators, who publish blogs, maintain websites, or upload self-created photos, podcasts or videos on social sites (like Flickr or YouTube).

2. Critics, who post ratings and reviews of products and services on user review sites (like Amazon), comment on someone else’s blogs or contribute to online forums or wikis (like Wikipedia).

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Six Levels of Web 2.0 Participation

Monday, April 30th, 2007

According to the the Forrester Research Social Technographics report, social technology, or web 2.0, behaviors can be categorized into a ladder with six levels of participation (via ZDNet) -

- Creators (13%): Publish web pages or blogs, upload videos to video sharing sites.
- Critics (19%): Comment on blogs, post ratings and reviews.
- Collectors (15%): Use RSS, tag Web pages.
- Joiners (19%): Use social networking sites.
- Spectators (23%): Read blogs, watch peer-generated video, listen to podcasts.
- Inactives (52%): None of these activities.

The percentages don’t add up to 100% because, apart from the inactives, the other five levels of participation overlap with each other.

Forrester recommends that instead of looking at Web 2.0 as a list of technologies to be deployed on an ad hoc basis, marketers should first analyze where their customers are on the Social Technographics ladder and then create a Web 2.0 strategy to transition them to the next step.

Here are my top of the mind thoughts on the Social Technographics report -

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