THR's Social Media Poll: How Facebook and Twitter Impact the Entertainment Industry

Social Media as Entertainment

There’s a sea change afoot in how Americans discover and consume entertainment. That’s the finding of an exclusive poll by market research firm Penn Schoen Berland for The Hollywood Reporter. Eighty-eight percent of respondents view social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook as a new form of entertainment.

Hours Spent Each Week Doing Online Activities

8 Hours: Visiting social networking sites.
8 Hours: Listening to music
7 Hours: Watching full-length television shows.
4 Hours: Watching full-length movies.
4 Hours: Watching video clips (e.g. YouTube)
4 Hours: Instant messaging

How Social Networking Impacts Entertainment Choices

Seventy nine percent of television viewers visit Facebook while they watch TV. “Social media is the connective tissue that enables consumers to multitask during their entertainment experiences by connecting with others and sharing their opinions,” notes pollster Jon Penn of the findings.

Comedies, Reality TV Benefit Most From Social Media

Types of shows people are most likely to post about while watching TV:
56%: Comedy
46%: Reality TV
38%: Sports
26%: Cable News
 

Movies and Social Media

One in three social networkers has decided to see a movie in a theater because of something they read on a social networking site.

Horror and other younger-skewing film genres benefit most from social networking. More than 6 percent of respondents saw Pananormal Activity 3 based in part on social networking sites.

Social Networking in Theaters

Social networking is not limited to at-home movie watching. Fifty-five percent of moviegoers have texted during a movie. And film moguls, take note: The poll found that a majority of 18-to-34-year-olds believe using social media while watching a movie in a theater would add to their experience, and nearly half would be inter- ested in going to theaters that allowed texting and web surfing. “Millennials want their public moviegoing experi- ence to replicate their own private media experiences,” says Penn.

Social Media Multitasking

Of all the other activities people do while on social media sites, television watching in the most popular. Fifty percent of respondents say they watch a movie on a TV set while on social media, and 11 percent say they watch a movie in a theater while participating in social media.

Social Media Impact on TV Viewing Choices

The study found that 8.5 percent of respondents have decided not to watch Jersey Shore because of something they saw on social networking.

Three out of 10 people have decided to watch a TV show because of something they read or saw on a social networking site.

Social Media-Made Critic

The study found that 72 percent of respondents post about movies on social networking sites after watching a film, while 20 percent post before, and 8 percent post during a viewing.

Celebrity and Social Media: The Best

Respondents were asked which public figures have the best and worst profiles online.Celebrities who have benefites the most from social networking:
Ashton Kutcher (11.2%)
Justin Bieber (8.5%)
Kim Kardashian (6.2%)
Lady Gaga (4.2%)
Charlie Sheen (1.3%)
Taylor Swift (1.2%).

Celebrity and Social Media: The Worst

Respondents were asked which public figures have the best and worst profiles online.Celebrities who have been hurt the most by social networking:
Lindsay Lohan (8.2%)
Ashton Kutcher (6.7%)
Kim Kardashian (5.2%)
Charlie Sheen (4.8%)
Justin Bieber (4.4%)
Britney Spears (2.8%).

News and Social Media

Respondents said that their main source for breaking news is cable news stations (31%), while social networking makes up 19 percent of their breaking news source.

Additionally, 21 percent of social networkers under 35 years old name social networking sites as their primary source of breaking news, while for those over 35 years old, just 9 percent name social networking sites as their primary source of breaking news.

Music and Social Media

Musicians also benefit from social media. The study found that 70 percent of respondents have listened to music by an artist based primarily on what a friend posted on a social networking site.

Pictured: Kanye West, who once tweeted 70 times in three hours.

Social Media Overall Influence: Positivity Trumps Negativity

Slightly more than half (56%) of respondents believe that social networking sites are important for making entertainment-related decisions. For every genre of entertainment, respondents felt that positive posts had more influence over their decisions than negative ones.

Interaction With Celebrities: How Twitter and Facebook Stack Up

Twitter users are more likely than Facebook users to interact with celebrities. The study found that 36 percent of tweeters have re-tweeted something a celebrity tweeted, and that 31 percent of tweeters have sent a tweet to a celebrity. Social networkers follow twice as many celebrities on Twitter as they do on Facebook.

Facebook vs. Twitter

In the war of the social networking giants, Facebook still has the upper hand, with 98 percent of social networkers using Facebook, while only 56 percent of social netoworkers are Twitter members.

Celebrities Most Associated With Facebook

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (6.5%) is the celebrity who is associated the most with Facebook. He's follow by Justin Bieber (3%) and Lady Gaga (2.4%).

Celebrities Most Associated With Twitter

When it comes to Twitter, Ashton Kutcher (15.2%) is the celebrity respondents feel is most associated with the Twitterverse. He's followed by Lady Gaga (3.4%) and Justin Bieber (3.2%).

Movie Marketing

While social networking is a big part of the movie watching and reviewing experience, traditional marketing is still the biggest factor in moviegoing decisions. The study found that 40 percent of respondents say trailers and previews are the biggest influencers on their movie choices. Only 9 percent of respondents said that comments or reviews on networking sites were the biggest influencer on this decision.