Let's start at the very beginning... (it's a very good place to start)

When you're in the world of When you're in the world of marketing — reading about it, planning campaigns, researching people — it's sometimes easy to overlook the basics. So we started our study by simply asking 'do you know what online social networking is?'.

And that's where our first myth was debunked. It turns out social networking is not taking over the world. Across the 17 markets surveyed, 42% of people know what online social networking is, which leaves 58% in the dark... either saying 'no' or 'don't know'.

The Dutch were most likely to know the term with 89% answering 'yes', followed by Japan at 71% and Americans with 70% answering in the affirmative. Still, that leaves three in every ten Americans (the home of social networking) outside the world of digital friends and relationships.

Synovate's Senior Vice President of the US-based Consumer Insights group, Bob Michaels, says, "While a majority of Americans have access to computers there are still others, particularly seniors and immigrants, who do not. Online social networking just is not part of their world."

The implications for marketers are clear and, yes, basic. Know your audience. But you knew that.

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> Who's in the in-crowd?

> Sites of choice

> Privacy and predators

> Poking around social media attitudes

> Is social media a marketing dream?