The online world, especially email, is very conducive to sharing of content and viral marketing. A “recent study”:http://www.sharpepartners.com/news/news_2006_jan_25_pr_01.shtml by “Sharpe Partners”:http://www.sharpepartners.com indicates that 89% of adult Internet users in the United States share content with others using email. A full 63% share content weekly or more often.
What are these people sharing?
Jokes and other humorous content is virally forwarded by 88% of people surveyed. News (56%), health and medical information (32%), business and personal finance content (24%) and sports info (24%) are some of the other content being forwarded. Surprisingly, sexually provocative content like online pornography was forwarded by 12% of respondents. Depending on who you hang with this may be very high or very low.
“…the real challenge for interactive marketing firms…is developing content that these people will want to consistently share…”, said Kathy Sharpe, CEO of Sharpe Partners.
Of those Americans who share content online, 25% share with 4 or more people.
So who is most likely to share online content?
Women; especially those women in their late 30’s and easily 40’s tend to be the biggest viral forwarders of content.
More stats from this survey can be found “in the release”:http://www.sharpepartners.com/news/news_2006_jan_25_pr_01.shtml from Sharpe Partners.