By Chris Lee

Social Media Week 2012 runs from 13-17 February and, according to its organisers, reflects “the global impact of social media and its role as a catalyst in driving cultural, economic, political and social change in developed and emerging markets”. In just less than three years, Social Media Week is now a global phenomenon which is seeing events take place in 21 cities across the world.

While global interest in social media continues unabated, studies would suggest that social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter are harder to resist than tobacco and alcohol. According to a study by the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business into “desire episodes” experienced by 205 people aged between 18-85 for social media “within the last 30 minutes”, a total of 7,827 desire episodes were recorded from 10,558 responses.

Social animals

Also this month it was revealed that consumers spend £3.4 million on dating sites during January 2012 in the run-up to Valentine’s Day. All-in-all, online dating spend is up 60 per cent on this time last year.

According to Jonny Stark, Social Media Lead at consultancy Razorfish; “First dates are a lot like job interviews – and there have been plenty of stories highlighting how companies (and candidates) use social media to find out a lot more about each other before the meeting itself.”

With recent studies showing a surge in popularity in online dating, more and more people are checking out the wealth of information shared on Twitter, Facebook and the like to research a potential suitor, Stark told NMK.

He said; “In the same way that you think twice about sharing photos on Facebook in case your boss sees it, you should always ask yourself the question: Do I want a potential date to have this impression of me before I even get to meet them?”

State of the social nation

Consumers aside, what how are businesses managing with social media, given that more than half (55 per cent) of marketers say that they will increase social media marketing spend in 2012? Are they getting the basics right on the whole? Not according to Daniel Rowles of online consultancy, Target Internet.

“Right now, most companies are in a mess with social media,” he told NMK. “We're still in the experimenting stage, objectives and measurement aren't always clear, and knowledge is in short supply. This is backed up by the CIM's Social Media Benchmark, released on the 15 February, that shows most companies are spending more but not entirely sure why! On the plus side, there is clear awareness of what needs to be done in many areas and some great case studies are gradually appearing. It's going to be a year of objectives, measurement and rationalisation, hand-in-hand with continuing perpetual change.”