I asked Claire Jarrett, a social media colleague across the pond, to share some thoughts about why social media is a growing marketing force. Here’s her guest post. Thanks, Claire!

—-

People are slowly losing trust in newspaper and television media sources, and fast trying to gain access to news sources which haven’t gone through a hefty editing process. People want reliable information, straight from the horse’s mouth.  Blog posts seem to be attracting these people more than a prominent 4-column front-page article in a newspaper. People want their news immediately, they no longer wish to be in front of their television sets to belatedly know what is happening to Roger Federer at the U S Open; they want to see everything live on a web page – now.

Our youth, in whose hands tomorrow lies, are increasingly using the internet to confirm anything and everything. Even big business is beginning to prefer social media to electronic or print media to get their message across. Customers also want confirmation from social media before buying a new product.

How is it that people opt to browse their net pages to ascertain or understand a sudden progress or downfall, relating to any topic, from sports to stock markets?  Why is this sudden change occurring? Is it really the impact created by the powerful reach of various forms of social media? Statistics say a clear `yes’.

A staggering billion tweets were processed by Twitter in the United States throughout December 2009, which works out to an incredible 40 million tweets every day. Being distinct from traditional media on many counts, social media has come to take the centre stage in the day-to-day happenings of society.

Social media carries information to people in an assertive and authoritative manner that has earned it a trust that is difficult for others forms of media to match. Holding an ever-growing global audience in its grasp, social media has taken on the arduous task of satisfying the media expectations of the populace who have very little time for communication. That social networking now accounts for 22% of all time spent online in the US speaks volumes of the firm belief and faith the Americans have placed on social media.

The days ahead are likely to further widen the gap between social media and all other forms of media and it is going to be a challenging job for the latter to keep up. Having already won the confidence of the majority of people in a very short span of time, there is no doubt that social media will become more effective and powerful over the coming years.

About the author: Claire Jarrett runs Marketing By Web, who offer PPC Management and is also an associate for PML Media, a Social Media Management company