Frankfurt. For the first time this year, IMEX in Frankfurt surveyed over 1,000 hosted buyers immediately after the show for their views on social media, industry blogs and Smartphone usage. The survey quizzed buyers on their use of social media, both as a professional meetings and event management tool and as a networking channel. 625 respondents answered the social media questions and confirmed their preference for LinkedIn as an online networking site. LinkedIn was used by 64 per cent of respondents, and Facebook by 60 per cent of buyers. Twitter is currently used by 27 per cent and YouTube by 23 per cent.46 per cent of respondents also confirmed an increase in the use of social media for networking over the past 6 months, although 32 per cent felt it had remained about the same. At the same time, 44 per cent of respondents agreed that ‘there are too many social media and networking sites to keep up to date with.’ Surprisingly given the proliferation of blogs within the wider business world, and increasingly within the international meetings industry, 83 per cent of respondents still do not regularly follow an industry blog. Also in line with wider business trends, Blackberry is currently the Smartphone of choice in the global meetings industry, with 57 per cent of respondents saying they use one. Of these, 47 per cent are using Blackberries as opposed to 31 per cent using Apple iPhones and 24 per cent using Nokia devices. “The growth of social media in different world markets creates both enormous pressures and provides international businesses such as ours with fantastic opportunities. The discipline for all of us is to pay careful attention to where the value truly lies for each of our different audiences and never to assume that a ‘one size solution fits all,” says Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group.
