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Participation in most of the social media and word-of-mouth activities was highest among younger adults, almost one-half of whom gave in-person advice based on online information. Respondents ages 18 to 24 were also more likely than older Web users to post ratings and reviews, share links, and have a blog.

Forum participants were significantly more likely to take part in all the activities queried. Notably: 65% of forum contributors give advice offline based on information found online, compared with 35% of noncontributors. 66% of forum contributors post online ratings and reviews, compared with 16.8% of noncontributors. 43.6% of forum contributors share links to articles and reviews, versus 12% of noncontributors. 20.6% of forum contributors publish a blog, compared with 2.1% of noncontributors. Users of forums, who are already actively engaged in online social activity, make for “enthusiastic consumers and influential brand advocates,”

Katherine Leary Alsdorf established the Center for Faith and Work in 2003. Prior to this role, Katherine worked for 20 years in high tech, both in New York and California. She served as President and CEO of Pensare, Inc., an online management education startup in Los Altos, CA. Prior to that she was President and CEO of One Touch Systems, Inc., a corporate communications hardware/software company, in San Jose, CA. In the early 90s she was President of Private Satellite Network in New York. She has also worked in numerous consulting, sales, and marketing roles primarily in the technology sector. 

For years, the web was about search — that is, people using search engines to find specific things online. Now, the web is shifting toward discovery — users are increasingly letting content find them via social networks. This trend actually started a few years ago with a number of sites seeing social networks drive more referral traffic than search engines. With Facebook’s new features, I think we’ll see this trend turn into a basic tenet of web optimization, as sites will soon be able to learn so much more about their users and offer targeted, shareable content that brings in more referral traffic.