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Social Media Usage in New Zealand  

By Paul Russell — Posted Wed, February 24, 2010  Add your comment ›

A recent Research International-TNS survey found that 90% of New Zealanders are participating in social networks, and 25% of them have made a major purchase solely based on reviews they read online. Johnathan Sinton presented the survey's results to the online marketing conference, Digital New Zealand 2009, in Auckland.

These findings show that the web has significantly changed consumer behaviour over the last three years and marketers need to catch up quickly. He said that 97% of internet users now researched online before making a significant purchase - 28% bought products as a result of reviews they read on the web, and more importantly, 34% changed their mind about a product as a result of what they read!

The popularity of Facebook and Twitter is calling businesses to look at how they can tap into social networking, but they need to tread carefully. Consumers are put off by social site pages that appeared to have a business agenda and only 9% of Facebook users reported that they were following brand-based identities on the network.

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