Most Prefer Socializing Face-to-Face, Not Through Social Networks or Phones

According to a recent study done by Brightkite – the Social Discovery Network, and GfK Technology, a leading market research agency, it has been discovered that most people choose to socialize face to face, the old fashioned way, rather than through social networking sites, computers or smart phones. Two-thirds of the respondents said that they don’t meet or interact with their friends as often as they would like.

Highlights

In-Person Social Interactions

Here are the highlights from the report:

• Out of 1,000 of respondents, 87 % of them favored face-to-face interactions over social networking on the Web.
• As compared to men, women prefer face time 70 times more than using social networks.
• Men only prefer face time 33 times more.
• Overall, people prefer face time 44 times more than social networks.

Actual Consumer Behavior

• 65% of respondents, i.e., two-thirds of respondents agree that they don’t see their friends as often as they would like.
• 9 % of respondents agree that they are addicted to social networks. This peaks at 21 % for the age bracket of 18-24 years).
• 11 % of respondents between the age group of 18-24 years spent more than 4 hours per day on social networks.

Additionally…

• Facebook is the most popular social network, except for the under the age of 25 who prefer MySpace.
• Facebook skews female, MySpace skews strongly male.

Says Brightkite CEO Jonathon Linner.

“As use of social networks proliferates, we need to find ways to use them to stimulate more face time, not use them as a substitute for real social interaction.”

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