Participants Like Facebook and LinkedIn

Back in the 1990's, interactive voice response (IVR) was a major tool for providing retirement plan information. Using the internet was, at best, an afterthought. Palm Pilots were around, then the Blackberry became a popular business tool. The iPod was still a few years away. Mark Zuckerberg was a teenager. As we moved into the 21st century, the iPod led an incredibly successful string of product introductions for Apple - first the iPhone and then the iPad. At one time, AOL and MySpace were household brands. In 2004, a new company, Facebook, was launched, dramatically changing the way people interact. LinkedIn was launched a year earlier, in 2003. While not rising to the audience numbers of Facebook, LinkedIn has proved to be an extremely important tool for people in the business world to communicate.

This brings us to a survey released by MassMutual, fielded by Brightwork Partners. Nearly 2,100 defined contribution plan participants were surveyed. Highlights include:

• 74% of women routinely use Facebook, vs. 59% of men.
• 32% of men use LinkedIn, vs. 15% of women.
• Twitter is more of an afterthought, at 17% for men vs. 10% for women.
• Those actively contributing to the plan are more likely to use social media than those who are not.
• For households with income >$100,000, 36% use LinkedIn, vs. 15% where household income is <$50,000.
• Participants in their 30's are more likely to use social media than those who are either older or younger.

While the social media numbers may seem modest, it's good to remember that not too long ago, even the internet was an afterthought as far as communicating with participants was concerned.