More than half adults are using Web 2.0 tools to  communicate and stay in touch. A fundamental shift has taken place in all of our lives about what it means to communicate in the 21st Century, says Universal McCann in a whitepaper based on their Media in Mind study, reports MediaPost.

85% of the tech-savvy 18 – 34 years olds are using Web 2.0 tools.  And some tools are growing at rapid rates – the percentage of U.S. adults who rely on instant messaging rose to 22% this year from just 9% in 2007.

One in ten are writing blogs and in the 18 – 3 year age group it’s one in five. Globally 73% are reading blogs and 48% include consumer-generated content in their media diet.  34% p0st opinions on products and brands  60% post images and almost 30% post videos.  

“ ..social networks are taking off. RSS feeds, which make reading blogs easier, have become an integral part of the way people communicate and exchange content,” said Graeme Hutton, senior vice president-director of consumer insights at UM.

There is wealth of data about global trends in UM’s Wave 3 report available for download here

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