IMEX survey shows social media popular with event organizers

Attendees to the recent IMEX event, the exhibition for incentive travel and events, in Frankfurt, Germany, completed a survey detailing how they’re using social media and smartphones. The survey showed that planners and event organizers are using LinkedIn as their top social media tool, with 64 percent of respondents saying it’s their preferred online networking site. Facebook came in close behind; 60 percent of the more than 1,000 respondents say they use Facebook for networking.

Other social media outlets came in slightly lower, but still have significant user numbers. Twenty-seven percent of IMEX respondents use Twitter, and 23 percent say they use YouTube. While almost half of those surveyed say they increased their use of social media in the past six months, 44 percent also said they feel there are too many technologies to try and keep up with. One of the more surprising results came when respondents were asked if they regularly followed an industry blog: 83 percent said no.

Smartphones are becoming standard in the industry, with 57 percent of respondents saying they use one. Blackberry topped the list in smartphone user preference with 47 percent opting for it over the 31 percent using iPhones.