CHICAGO – Dec. 20, 2010 – Americans spend nearly a quarter of their time online on social networking websites and blogs, according to research released from The Nielsen Company – a 43 percent increase from just a year ago. Given the rapidly growing audience of social media users, Apartments.com surveyed nearly 850 of its national website visitors to find how much they relied on social media and the way in which is impacts their apartment search.
The survey results found that 71 percent of Apartments.com visitors are active with social media – but only a quarter used social media when searching for an apartment and less than 10 percent connected with their current apartment community via social media.
However, the limited use of social media in an apartment search could change, according to Apartments.com. Nearly 70 percent of respondents who said they did not use social media during their apartment search would consider using it.
Like most shoppers, renters consult multiple online sources before choosing where to live. The smaller group of respondents who used social media in their apartment search listed the following top reasons for doing so: These survey respondents ranked the top five benefits of using social media during their apartment search as:
• Finding additional apartment community information and recommendations (58.1 percent)
• Seeking photos and videos of apartments (54.7 percent)
• Searching for apartment listings (52.7 percent)
• Hunting for special incentives and offers (46.8 percent)
• Sharing apartment information with friends and seeking feedback (20.7 percent)
More than 90 percent of survey respondents said they are not connected to their apartment community on any social media website. In some cases, the relatively low rate of participation is based on apartment communities not participating in social media or not getting the word out to residents. Nearly half of all respondents said their apartment community does not have a social media presence or, if it does, they don’t know about it. More than 40 percent of survey respondents said they do not currently live at an apartment community.
“As social media continues to evolve online communications, we believe more apartment communities will follow suit and become more visible in this space,” said Chris Brown, vice president product management at Apartments.com. “Residents want to connect with their apartment community through social media to receive special offers, gain access to other residents and to keep current on community news and events.”
While nearly two thirds of all survey respondents said they are social media users, most are only active on Facebook. Nearly 35 percent indicated they check Facebook as often as every couple of hours and 32 percent visit at least once each day. This is a sharp contrast compared to activity on other social media websites. On average, more than 65 percent of survey respondents have never logged on to Yelp! or Foursquare, and more than half have never visited Twitter or MySpace.
© 2010 Florida Realtors®
Reprinted with permission. Florida Realtors®. All rights reserved.
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