The Pew Internet & American Life project  polled over 2,250 Americans to find out why exactly they use social media platforms.  The results pointed to one common answer: keeping in-touch with acquaintances or reconnecting with former friends they may have lost touch with.  Some of the lowest motivators include using social media to create new friends, find dating partners or follow celebrities.

Hands down, the most common reason for using social media was “Staying in touch with current friends” as 91% of respondents agreed it was a ‘minor to major’ reason they embraced social media.  Following closely behind were the reasons “staying in touch with family”  and “connecting with old friends you’f lost touch with” with 87% agreement and 86% agreement respectively.

The lowest motivators were “finding dating or romantic partners” and “reading comments by celebrities, athletes, or politicians”.  Only 3% of respondents stated that dating was a ‘major reason’ they joined a social platform, and only 5% said following celebs was a major reason.

Some other interesting facts in the report show that middle aged users tend to see more value in using social media to connect with others around a hobby/interest and that users under the age of 50 see the most value in staying in touch with current friends.  To see more data, view the entire report from Pew Internet.

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Social Media Marketing

About The Author: Greg Finn is the Chief Marketing Officer for Cypress North, a company that specializes in social media and search marketing services and web-based application development. He has been in the Internet marketing industry for 6+ years and specializes in Social Media Marketing. You can also find Greg on Twitter (@gregfinn) or LinkedIn. See more articles by Greg Finn

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