Wednesday, January 25, 2006
It's Not Just My Mom
If, like me, you provide technical support to your parents, you'll recognize a truth in this factoid:
"89% of adult Internet users in America share content with others via email ... The most popular content is humorous material, with 88% forwarding jokes or cartoons." Other categories were news (56%), healthcare and medical information (32%), religious and spiritual material (30%), games (25%), business and personal finance information (24%), and sports/hobbies (24%). Source: Sharpe Partners.
When I visit my mom to help with her computer, invariably her email in-box is full to brimming with hundreds and hundreds of jokes, cartoons, and "cute" stories, forwarded to her from her email correspondents around the country, with a good dose of religious material thrown in.
The Sharpe study also says that "the most likely person to share content - and share it widely - is a woman in her late 30's/early 40's who resides in the South or Midwest." Well, that misses mom by about 40 years and half a continent.
Sharpe Partners hints that this tendency to forward email jokes and information provides an opportunity for viral marketing. On behalf of my peers everywhere who support their parents' computers, I beg advertisers: please don't. There's enough *ahem* stuff in the in-box already.
"89% of adult Internet users in America share content with others via email ... The most popular content is humorous material, with 88% forwarding jokes or cartoons." Other categories were news (56%), healthcare and medical information (32%), religious and spiritual material (30%), games (25%), business and personal finance information (24%), and sports/hobbies (24%). Source: Sharpe Partners.
When I visit my mom to help with her computer, invariably her email in-box is full to brimming with hundreds and hundreds of jokes, cartoons, and "cute" stories, forwarded to her from her email correspondents around the country, with a good dose of religious material thrown in.
The Sharpe study also says that "the most likely person to share content - and share it widely - is a woman in her late 30's/early 40's who resides in the South or Midwest." Well, that misses mom by about 40 years and half a continent.
Sharpe Partners hints that this tendency to forward email jokes and information provides an opportunity for viral marketing. On behalf of my peers everywhere who support their parents' computers, I beg advertisers: please don't. There's enough *ahem* stuff in the in-box already.
