A survey conducted by Burst Media has revealed that 20% of young people in Britain are positively influenced by social media engagement, while 24% are put off by ads received via text messages.
The research looked into the online interests of more than 744 Brits in the 18-34 age group, their online habits and their response to various types of marketing.
E-mail marketing was viewed as positive by 19% of the participants in the study, while just 10% considered themselves positively affected by telemarketing. Forty-nine percent said that a key factor for making up their mind to buy things is recommendations from friends, regardless of whether they are made online or offline.
Half of those surveyed said that they were active on social networks every day and 40% said that they accessed news and entertainment sites on a daily basis. More than 50% looked to the Web to shop at least once a week and 66% browsed for research purposes. Females aged between 18 and 24 were particularly inclined to research on the Internet, the study shows.
Health and employment turned out high on young Brits´ priority list. Three-quarters of the respondents cared about those issues, which came before finances and maintaining relationships – indicated by 72% and 70% of the participants, respectively. Environment was not as popular, with just 27% citing it as an online interest.
The study also shed light on how the young see themselves online. Most defined themselves as “inquisitive” – 43% of males and 56% of females. Thirty-nine percent of males and 45% of females saw themselves as “enthusiastic” and almost equal proportions – 43% and 44%, respectively – as “casual”. Just 9% of young men and 10% of young women felt “rushed”.