News in Short: Canadians comfortable but cautious with social media, email decreasing in popularity

Canadians are comfortable but cautious with social media

The 2010 Digital Influence Index was released in Canada last week by Fleishman-Hillard and Harris Interactive. The study, which measures things such as adoption of digital behaviours and media consumption patterns, revealed Canadians have a high online engagement and a relatively low level of trust with the internet.

The study also revealed that the internet is the most important and influential form of media consumed by Canadians, and that a higher percentage of Canadians (69%) have a Facebook account than any other country measured (average of 47%). Canadian consumers also have the most knowledge of microblogs.

Email going the way of the dodo bird?

A recent Ipsos Interactive Reid Report suggests email—even spam—has declined by 35% late 2008 to today. The decrease is email usage is caused mostly by the 18-34 age group, which is increasingly using texts, tweets, Facebook and other social media platforms to communicate instead of email.

The report also revealed that Facebook is used more often by females and those with lower household incomes. As well, Twitter, MSN Messenger and Blackberry Messenger are used more frequently by males. MSN is used by younger people, while Blackberry is used more by those of middle age, and those with higher household incomes.