What we talk about, how we talk, why we talk

By Molly Flatt

A couple of interesting pieces of research have surfaced this week: one looking at what we’re talking about online, the other more focused on how and why.

First, Synthesio has analysed around 200 million conversations in 17 countries over the past 3 months to produce:

It reflects that we’re still using social media very much as a consumer space based on specific passions rather than general ‘socialising’. Health scooping the top spot is a no-brainer, but the ‘soft topics’ you’d probably assume our social interactions focus on -love and family – are trumped by our active pastimes, areas saturated by big-brand  products and services: games, auto, tech, sports, music, cinema.

This makes total common sense, of course, but it’s worth remembering: we’re broadcasters, not just communicators. We constantly ally ourselves with the things we love and want to discuss products and passions rather than just say hi to dad. It’s what makes the space so valuable for brands.

Secondly, Harbinger have been examining how women’s word of mouth works. Reflecting humankind’s general preference for face to face WOM, they discovered that they’re three times as likely to talk to friends and family about products rather than head online, and 92% prefer offline advice to internet research.

1000heads likes to get girls face to face. Hmm. That sounds wrong.

But their study also suggests that women are more likely to seek out others’ opinions about low-entry, impersonal decisions than highly personal ones. 71% will seek out WOM about restaurants, with entertainment and auto decisions rating highly too – but only 41% consult about fashion, and 30% about jewellery. This rather unexpected finding indicates that we’re still pretty sure of our own inner compass when it comes to decisions that broadcast our own unique identity and therefore feel less compelled to trawl for advice.

A final finding suggest this also depends on life stage. 26% of younger women who have just entered a stable relationship are apparently eager to share their ideas and advice, whereas only 4% of over-50s with grown children feel the urge, suggesting that a shift in identity drives a fresh need to express and reinforce it.

It’s real food for thought. When are we seekers, and when are we sharers? When do we prefer to be the recipients of WOM and when the broadcasters? When are we influencers and when are we influenced?

We’d love to hear your thoughts…

Like this?

Brought into the world on Friday, October 15th, 2010 and filed under Stats & Research.

  • http://www.bearingpartnership.com Ollie Latham

    Great article Molly.
    I’d suggest that similar findings will be shown for men with regards to sharing personal decisions. Surely, with the expansion of everyone’s online network, more personal enquiries are less likely to be shared or their responses trusted. As a by product of this less personal enquiries such as those of where to eat should be more ‘shareable’ as there is less chance of embarrassment. The stats for fashion are somewhat surprising in light of this.

  • http://twitter.com/nkumar_ Nitish Kumar

    Interesting to see the health concerns are on the top otherwise I was thinking that it will go i favour of smartphones, music, movies, games and real estates

  • http://www.thesocialnexus.com George Cathcart

    Is the fact that health is the most talked about a good indicator of the *still* apparent taboo attached to health issues? I suppose you'd need to know the distribution of conversations about health issues compared to health in general to really make a judgement on this. What is especially amazing is that this COULD suggest that people are turning to the social web for advice on these things BEFORE going to a trained medical professional. User generated content, it could be inferred, is even changing the way people deal with health issues, as well as changing the way that the social consumer shops and makes brand decisions.

    On a second note, it is also interesting to see how low the percentages are for music and cinema. These are the hallmarks of modern recreation, no? I would have sworn they would have been higher up.

    This asks the question – if research (regardless of how rigorous or sound the method) conflicts or contradicts what your gut instincts are, then is the research wrong? are the results erroneous? what does our gut instinct even mean?

    I'm waffling now. Apologies.

  • Jenny Ramsey

    It’s great that people want to talk about brands and stuff. Like stuff they wanna buy.

  • http://www.1000heads.com/2010/10/learning-from-social-brands-at-media-aces-france/ 1000heads :: The Word of Mouth People

    [...] What we talk about, how we talk, why we talk [...]

  • michmski

    Thanks for sharing this, Molly :) More to come on MonitorChat.tv soon! ;)

  • Carrie Grafham

    Yes, I think women are eager to share and be influenced when they are entering a new lifestage: 'me to we', starting a family, getting divorced, moving abroad etc. I also think however, that when the current crop of mum bloggers and sharers reach the empty nest/menopause stage, they will continue to want to influence and be influenced just as they always have. The reluctance of the current over 50's to share online their inner most thoughts is less to do with psychology and more to do with habit.

  • http://www.1000heads.com/2010/10/the-death-of-the-mummy-blogger/ 1000heads :: The Word of Mouth People

    [...] recent post ‘What we talk about, how we talk, why we talk’ got me [...]