Tech bytes for tea?

You’ve heard of “environmental pollution” and “noise pollution”, as well as “toxic waste” and “hazardous waste”. Now it’s time to add “Internet pollution” and “digital waste” to your lexicon.

Digital Life 2011 study by TNS

TNS today published their study of the modern digital lifestyle in today’s Internet age. The extensive survey was based on conversations with over 72,000 people in 60 countries. Digital Life’s size, scale and detail make it the most comprehensive view of consumer attitudes and behaviour online, on a global and local level.

“Digital waste is the accumulation of thousands of brands rushing online without thinking who they want to talk to – and why. Whilst many brand owners understand the value and relevance of the vast online world, many fail to understand the audience they are connecting with,” said Arnaud Frade, Regional Director Digital Strategy, TNS APAC.Inaugurated in 2010, today’s 2011 report is the second iteration of the annual study.

One of this year’s key findings is that businesses are generating much “digital waste” by way of electronic marketing material on the Internet that no one is interested in perusing.

For instance, even though brands are scrambling to inundate social networks such as Facebook and YouTube with their online presence, Digital Life showed that 43% of Singapore consumers actually don’t want to be bothered in social networks.

The global average for consumers who don’t want to engage with brands via social media is even higher at 57% for developed markets such as US (60%), UK (61%), Japan, Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

“Control is firmly in the hands of consumers. The goal should therefore be to understand your target audience intimately, enabling your brand to connect openly and with integrity. This also means that selecting the right online approach and focusing on efficient messaging are critical to be relevant” Frade added.Brands that persist in spamming these consumers are not only wasting their marketing resources, but polluting the Internet instead. In the worst case, mis-targeted consumers may even resent the invasion of their social networks by the uninvited attention.

Businesses should therefore study these demographics and their details in order to tailor a marketing campaign that targets the right audience on the Internet.

The Digital Life study aims to provide these knowledge to brands looking for growth opportunities in the online world.

Digital Life applies TNS’s long-established expertise and deep consumer understanding to develop insights and address the key questions that inform marketing investment.

Digital Life also introduces the Digital Growth Index, a single number score defining the opportunity across product categories and countries for growth through digital channels, and showing the diversity of opportunities available in the online world.

An interactive data visualisation of the key findings can be found at www.tnsdigitallife.com.

About TNS

TNS advises clients on specific growth strategies around new market entry, innovation, brand switching and stakeholder management, based on long-established expertise and market-leading solutions.

With a presence in over 80 countries, TNS has more conversations with the world’s consumers than anyone else and understands individual human behaviours and attitudes across every cultural, economic and political region of the world.

TNS is part of Kantar, one of the world’s largest insight, information and consultancy groups.