Forrester Finds Most Users Read, Listen or Watch, Don't Post

Though use of social networking is darn near universal these days, Forrester Research continues to find that the percentage of social media and social networking users who actually create content has not grown, and in fact, might be shrinking. "Behaviors that require creating content have seen no substantial growth in adoption since 2009; in fact, some behaviors have experienced attrition,” says Augie Ray, Forrester Research analyst.

More than 80 percent of online Americans are active in either creating, participating in, or reading some form of social content at least once a month, Forrester Research has said. But most users do not actively create content. In some studies, Forrester has found that 24 percent of online users create content, while 37 percent post responses.

Some 51 percent maintain personal profiles, while 73 percent of online users read blogs, watch online videos or listen to podcasts.

Among online users 35 or younger, social networking is nearly universal, with 90 percent participating in some way. Among those 55 and over, about 66 percent now are participating.

Whether the failure to "contribute content" is a problem or not is a matter of opinion. Not every person who uses social media might find content creation appealing. In and of itself, some of us would not consider that a "problem." To use the older analogy, lots of people read books. Not many write them. These days, the web makes self publishing very easy. But tools do not necessarily change propensity to "create."

Forrester also finds a growing user concern about privacy issues, which might or might not be related to the desire and willingness to create content.

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