Though most Americans prefer to interact with their friends and acquaintances face-to-face, rather than via social media, 60% of adults who use social media say they value the opinions others share on social media sites, and 41% say they feel important when giving feedback about brands, products, and services in the social media space, according to a Harris Poll.
Still most people prefer to watch from the sidelines: 53% of surveyed social media users say when using social media, they prefer to listen to other opinions rather than share their own, as do 55% of social media users age 18-34.
Preferences for social media interaction vary based on the types of personal relationships people have. For example, 44% of adults who use social media say they prefer to interact with acquaintances using social media rather than face-to-face. Some 23% prefer to interact with friends via social media, and 19% prefer to interact with family via social channels.
Such social preferences are age driven as well: 59% of social media users age 18-34 say they prefer to interact with acquaintances using social media rather than face-to-face, compared with 38% of those age 45-54 and 25% of those age 55+.
Connection Levels
Nearly nine in ten online Americans (87%) use social media. Such users feel they have different levels of connections with various groups. Because of their social media use, over one-half say they feel very connected or connected to close friends (58%) and immediate family (52%), while 42% say they feel this way about extended family.
Roughly one-third of social media users say because of social media they feel connected or very connected to friends and/or acquaintances (36%) and old classmates (32%).
For business, the same feeling of connection is not as strong: just 19% say they feel very connected or connected to business associates because of social media.
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Americans Feel More Connected
Overall, Americans feel more connected to one another: 57% of online adults say they feel more connected to people now than they did previously and 56% say they find they keep in touch more with friends now than in the past.
Though Americans may feel more connected, they're not actually seeing people more: 58% of online adults say they know what's going on with their friends and acquaintances, but don't interact with them personally or individually, and 54% say they've had less face-to-face contact with friends recently.
Age also matters. Younger online adults (age18-34) are more likely than those 55+ to say they keep in touch with more friends now than in the past (63% vs. 52%) and to feel more connected to people now (63% vs. 53%). But the flip side is also true: Those age 18-34 are more likely than those 55+ to say they have had less face-to-face contact with friends (56% vs. 49%), and, while they know what's going on with friends, they don't interact with them personally or individually (60% vs. 54%).
About the data: The Harris Poll of 2,258 US adults (age 18+) was conducted online by Harris Interactive, Sept. 1-3, 2010.
