Investis, a company specializing in digital investor relations (IR) and corporate communications for public companies, has just released their IQ Social Media Survey Q3 2013 report.
Some of the survey’s findings, which consist of responses from more than 1,500 international companies, include:
- The majority of global companies surveyed (54%) now have at least one social media account carrying some IR or corporate content that is linked to from their corporate website. A year ago, this figure was 34%, rising to 45% six months ago. This rapid growth suggests that corporate/IR use of social media has now reached and surpassed a tipping point.
- The US leads the way with social media: 88% of the S&P 100 has at least one corporate/IR account linked to from their corporate site.
- Twitter is by far the most commonly used platform for IR and corporate communications – unsurprising given its ability to distribute news in real time.
My Interpretation of These Survey Results
- While 54% is, yes, a larger number than 46%, I’m not sure 54% is a very large majority.
- The fact that the US leads the way with social media should come at no surprise. Many a site, blog post and news report have cited the US as being the primary social media player in comparison to its international counterparts at this time.
- For Twitter to be cited as the “most commonly used platform” (for IR and corporate communications) is of interest to me, especially in light of recent reports constantly singling Twitter out for its low(er) user base in comparison to Facebook. See my note below for additional thoughts regarding Twitter.
Is Twitter’s Popularity On a Decline?
Twitter lately seems to be getting a bad rap. Maybe its because of its recent IPO that the microblog has been under so much intense scrutiny as of late but it’s hard to ignore the constant headlines hinting, and sometimes outright stating, that support for Twitter may be waning. That’s what this November 6, 2013 headline, Twitter Is Cooling Off in Korea and Japan, This next October 26, 2013 headline, Why Nobody Cares About Twitter, certainly doesn’t paint a positive spin either.
So to now see survey findings claiming Twitter is a most commonly used platform is kind of a relief for me, an admitted Twitter-a-holic. Woot! So happy to see that, at least in the IR and corporate communications fields, Twitter’s real time nature is of greater value than Facebook which, according to the survey, is less important.
One More Finding of Interest …
“American companies are the keenest users of the individual platforms – with the exception of Flickr and SlideShare, where their use is extremely restrained.”
Interesting.
For those of you active on Flickr and/or SlideShare, keep in mind this comment is specific to an IR and corporate communications finding so please don’t get too hung up or impacted by this survey result. Moreover, this survey represents only a small sliver of one market vertical so no need to panic or react. Sooooooo Flickr and SlideShare on as you must 
If you want to learn more about this recent survey and its findings, click here.
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