KPR Social Communication Research Institute Announces Results of 2016 Social Media Trends Survey
89% of major domestic companies and public institutions recognize the need to utilize social media big data.

With growing interest in and awareness of the necessity of big data collected from social media, noteworthy survey results regarding big data utilization have been released.

In a 2016 social media trend survey jointly conducted by the KPR Social Communication Research Institute, the first specialized social media research institute in the domestic PR industry, and a research team led by Professor Kim Su-yeon of the Department of Communication at Sogang University, 89% of 217 companies and public institutions responded that "the use of social media big data is necessary," but less than half (48%) responded that they are currently "using social media big data."

In this survey, a majority of respondents (52%) stated that their companies’ use of social media big data is not professional, and they cited a lack of professional personnel (35%) as the primary difficulty in using social media, indicating that expertise in big data utilization is particularly required.


Furthermore, among all respondents, including companies and public institutions that do not currently utilize social media big data, 46% viewed the effectiveness of utilizing social media big data positively, and practitioners at companies and public institutions actually utilizing social media big data 60% responded positively. In addition, practitioners at companies and public institutions currently using social media (80%) expressed a higher intention to utilize big data in the future compared to the overall respondents (65%), revealing that the use of social media big data is effective.

Kim Hak-kyun, Director of the KPR Social Communication Research Institute, stated, “Big data collected from social media can serve as a crucial foundation for companies to identify consumer needs and conduct market research, as well as for public institutions to formulate PR strategies. Therefore, to keep pace with rapidly changing market trends, it is essential to possess the expertise to extract meaning, make predictions, and gain insights, rather than merely analyzing the accumulated data.”

Kim Su-yeon, a professor in the Department of Communication at Sogang University, emphasized, “An interesting point in the 2016 research results is that while social media managers at companies and public institutions keenly felt the need for social media big data, they were not yet confident about whether they possessed the expertise to utilize it. In particular, they cited a shortage of skilled personnel and the difficulty of securing data as their biggest challenges. Therefore, there is an urgent need for public institutions to regularly share the latest data, educate and produce skilled professionals, and actively utilize data.”

In addition to the current status of big data utilization, this survey also investigated the status of social media operations. Despite the economic downturn, 50% of domestic companies and public institutions responded that their social media budgets increased compared to last year, and the interest of top decision-makers in social media also recorded 63%, a 9 percentage point increase from last year (54%). As a result, it was found that 47% of social media practitioners at domestic companies and public institutions are satisfied with the effectiveness of their current social media operations.

In addition, as it has become possible to execute targeted advertising on social media, the percentage of respondents who said they are "currently running social media ads" increased from 49% last year to 74% this year. This suggests that social media is transitioning from a communication-centered channel to a marketing channel.

In terms of social media channel operation, 'Facebook' (99%) ranked first, followed by 'Blog' (77%), 'YouTube' (56%), 'Instagram' (56%), 'Twitter' (47%), and 'KakaoStory' (42%). Compared to the 2015 survey results, 'Instagram' (31 percentage points) and 'YouTube' (14 percentage points) showed the highest growth rates. Furthermore, social media practitioners rated 'Facebook' (4.17 points), 'YouTube' (4.06 points), and 'Instagram' (4.03 points) highly on a 5-point scale as channels that will become important in the future, suggesting that visual and video-based channels are expected to gain further strength.

Established in 2012, the KPR Social Communication Research Institute has been conducting an annual survey on the "Status and Trends of Social Media Operations" for domestic companies and public institutions, and is the only organization in Korea that regularly conducts trend surveys on the social media environment and changes in perceptions targeting SNS practitioners.