Mediaboss Marketing

Euro RSCG Worldwide's annual Valentine's Day survey explores the impact of social networking on romantic relationships and uncovers significant differences in the sex lives and desires of Americans based on politics and social media preferences.

When the Internet first was opened to public use, it was widely assumed that pornography would be its biggest draw. And for years it was. Today, in contrast, social media is the primary reason for having an Internet account -- and social networking is having a significant impact on how we meet people and develop our relationships.

A majority of the 1,000 online Americans Euro RSCG surveyed earlier this month say online dating has become mainstream, and just about half (49 percent) know someone whose relationship started with online interactions. Four in 10 admit to having flirted with someone online; a quarter of the sample say they've experienced strong feelings of attraction for someone on the Internet; and around 1 in 5 (19 percent--and 22 percent of those aged 18-34) say they've actually had a romantic, sexual, or erotic relationship online.

While not everyone actively uses the Internet as a hunting ground for love and lust, the effects of interactions online are beginning to spill over into offline lives as more people spend more time on social media sites:

-- 73 percent of Americans believe having a strongly sexual relationship with someone online counts as cheating.

-- Around a third (32 percent) know someone whose offline relationship ended because of their actions online. The number rises to 39 percent among the 18-34 cohort (millennials).

-- 69 percent say the Internet has made it easier for people to cheat on their partners.

-- 35 percent acknowledge that relationships online can prove too much of a distraction to offline relationships.

-- 11 percent of women and 18 percent of millennials admit to having "stalked" an ex on social media networks.

-- And around a third of men (31 percent) and 14 percent of women say images online have actually influenced how they think about sex. "These numbers show we've passed several milestones in the evolution of the Web," says Norm Yustin, president Euro RSCG Chicago Group. "In the early days of the Internet, lots of people used chat rooms to flirt or engage in what we used to call 'cybersex' -- but it was largely with strangers and without any intention of carrying over the relationship into the real world. What people did online stayed online, for the most part. Now our two worlds are blended, and the people we meet online and how we behave on social networks is affecting us at home and at work--for good or bad. We'll continue tracking this evolution to see just how far millennials and the generations to follow will push it--and to better understand all its implications for society and for marketers."

Are You Too Sexy for Facebook? Our study uncovered some interesting disparities between how active Facebook and Twitter users perceive themselves in the areas of sex and romance.

-- 40 percent of daily Twitter users describe themselves as "sexy," compared with just 28 percent of people who use Facebook every day.

-- 42 percent of active tweeters (vs. 33 percent of active FBers) say they're "sexually adventurous."

-- 33 percent of tweeters (vs. 28 percent of FBers) pride themselves on being "skilled lovers."

Original post:
Social Media Now More Popular Than Porn