Today we sent out a promo for a company who decided that they really wanted to use Facebook to enhance their client interactions and ultimately, develop better relationships with current clients. What we got back as a response were comments such as "Great, thanks for the offer", "Good Deal - let me know when you send the next one" etc.

BUT, we also got a couple of emails that said, "Perhaps you could use a more sophisticated source" and "I hate Facebook, take me off the list". No problem, it's done. We thought it might be interesting to see why these comments came through however so we did a bit of research and discovered this:

'crotchety people with no sense of humour and a complete disdain for technology, largely in relation to their own inability to comprehend the value or even understand how to use the technology'

- were at the root of these types of comments.

Seriously?
Of course not!  There is however a growing concern as to how Social Media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace etc. can really drive value to a companies' bottom line. And although it is a legitimate concern, we won't really know in the short term since we are experiencing history in the making and as the saying goes, 'hindsight is 20/20'

The statistics are rather compelling however that indicate many people want to use the tools - check some of them out here:

•    50 percent of consumers aged 18-34 use Facebook for shopping-related activities such as product research, searching for coupons and interacting with merchants.
•    By comparison, 28 percent of those 35 and older use Facebook for these activities.
•    41 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds use mobile devices to browse or research products or services, up from 23 percent reported in another study released earlier this year.
•    47 percent of those 55 and older discover products via emails from merchants, compared to 41 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds and 39 percent of 35- to 54-year-olds.
•    37 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds consider it “important” or “very important” that merchants provide an opportunity to interact through social networks
•    Nearly 40 percent of those aged 55 and older cited more live help options as an important upgrade for online merchants.
•    15 percent of 35- to 54-year-olds, as well as 15 percent of those over 55, said they use price comparison services when shopping online.  (Full article here)

Although we all may have a few aversions to the way Social Media seems to be changing the way we communicate, I guess it's time to have a look at the reason for the aversion, address it and then get on with it.

With stats like these, it looks like there is no time like the present either!