Public Perception Of Social Media: 2010 vs. 2012 [Infographic]

Were you on any social media sites in 2010? Are you on those same sites now? Has your opinion of social media changed between 2010 and 2012? I read an interesting article on Forbes Magazine which dove into the whole public perception of social media in a playful way, and the results were quite interesting. I don’t think my own personal views weigh much when looking at the public perception of social media across the board, but my view of it has definitely changed for what it’s worth.

Social media used to be just fun and nothing else to me. It was like a cocktail party in my computer 24/7. Now that I’ve read what feels like a million articles about it since 2010, it’s a little different. It’s more about strategy, marketing and branding. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but it’s definitely an evolution. Eric Savitz at Forbes, in collaboration with Lev Mazine at AYTM Market Research, decided to find out what the public perception of social media is in 2012 as compared to 2010.

They did it in the most simple way possible, which was brilliant. They asked 500 people “What is the first thing you think of when you hear the words social media?” You can read all of the results on this survey page. Since Eric had already done this survey in 2010, it just came down to comparing the data. AYTM compiled it all into this fun infographic called Public Perception of Social Media: 2010 vs. 2012.

I found two things on here surprising. First of all, I was shocked to learn that 32% of the 500 people surveyed said the first thing that comes to their minds when they hear the words social media is facebook. Reeeeeally? Dang! That is nuts on so many levels. The next thing I was surprised about is how negative the majority of these answers are. Maybe I’m just connected to all the positive and nice people on social media, I don’t know. Either way…I’d love to know what the first thing is that pops into your mind when you hear the words social media. For me, it is “I’m so behind, but I want to carve out time to engage on there more. I’ve been so busy the last few weeks, but I miss my friends dearly. I’m going to plan a few hours to do nothing other than tweet, pin and have a glass of wine.” Yup, that’s the first thing that popped into my head right now.