B2B marketing firm comments on microblogging memory study

Recalling online social media content is easier than recalling the same information printed in a book, according to new research.

The academic study found that Facebook status updates were about one and a half times more memorable than sentences from books. And these were not the status updates of the study participants’ friends, but rather 200 anonymous posts.

The study was undertaken by the University of Warwick and the University of California, San Diego, and published in the journal Memory & Cognition.

The researchers argue that the reason ‘microblogs’ are more memorable is because they are short, stand-alone pieces of information. What’s more, microblogs are ‘virtual chatter’, which is close to real-life chatter. Language we generate without much effort, it seems, is both what we ingest most willingly and readily – and what we remember best.

Content Communications, a technology marketing specialist that offers Search Engine Marketing services, has witnessed many of its clients embracing social media as a new way of communicating with customers. While there remains a place for formal pieces of writing in PR, it’s clear that microblogging has a role to play, too.

Joanna Watchman, Managing Director of Bristol PR company, Content Coms, comments: “Short company updates made via Twitter and Facebook may seem insignificant, but our experience has shown that – as part of an integrated marketing campaign – they can have a real impact. This new research backs up the idea that online content can be very memorable.”

She adds: “Business conversations are increasingly conducted online and companies that don’t join in are set to lose out.”

Flickr.com image by Sean MacEntee