Whether staying home due to the current COVID-19 crisis or because you work remotely, this will affect media consumption habits, leading to almost a 60% increase in the amount of content we watch. More time at home means increased media time.
During a crisis TV viewing booms as we ramp up our media consumption to stay informed as well as to kill time. Data suggests that employees who work remotely Monday through Friday watch over three more hours per week of traditional TV, compared with non-remote workers.
Social media can be a powerful communication tool when you’re working from home as it helps you to collaborate, share ideas and solve problems. Social interactions with your colleagues will most likely make you more motivated and innovative and enable you to share work experiences. We now use social media apps more frequently to find solace and stay in touch with friends, family and colleagues.
As technology has changed the media landscape, many companies have encouraged remote commuting where possible. This has cut down overhead office costs, allowed for flexible work schedules, provided access to a more tech-savvy talent pool and, in the case of COVID-19, given companies the ability to have their employees work from home by providing them the proper equipment and a WiFi connection.
Social distancing, quarantining and staying home will have a significant effect on media consumption, increasing remote workers’ media behavior as they spent more time at home. It is possible that this will continue even after COVID-19. As our digital engagement with our colleagues increases, social media has become the primary source news, interaction, etc. We have gravitated to apps that meet the needs of our temporary indoor lifestyles, mainly in the entertainment and e-commerce categories and have embraced e-commerce for a variety of needs: at-home delivery of goods and services, food delivery and online education.
More people have shifted to the digital world as life outside the home is on hold. There’s pressure on companies to keep connections up when as their employees are trying to work from home and this can pose challenges for Internet video conferencing services. We’re using the Internet a lot more, doing more online chat and more video streaming. Video chats have replaced face-to-face meetings and demand for online video and chat tools, such as Zoom, Webex and GoToMeeting is increasing.
COVID-19 has changed the way we consume media and our behaviors have shifted as the virus spread and pushed us to using our various devices for work.
Working from home requires staying focused on the task at hand, despite potential distractions and interruptions. There are some temptations to working from home and one of the biggest is being hijacked into scrolling through social media feeds.
With so many more people working from home these days, more time is being spent on digital distractions such as social media. And considering the huge number of people who have currently joined the remote-working ranks due to the coronavirus, avoiding the lure of spending too much time on social sites has grown even more challenging. Many people are searching for news repeatedly throughout the day, along with checking in with friends and family on social media, and that creates another challenge. Constantly checking and refreshing can prevent you getting your actual work done from home.
Here are some tips to help you manage your social media use:
- Turn Off Alerts: Turn off social network alerts. For the work ones, you can fine-tune your them, so you’ll get alerted when your boss rings you up.
- Track Your Usage: Tally the minutes or hours spent per day on social media and try tracking your usage of various platforms. You can also just keep a basic time log for a week or two to get a visual of how much time you’re spending on particular sites like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
- Tame Your Checking Times: The addictive nature of social feeds makes it tough to moderate your own usage. Set a schedule for yourself that includes social-media free work hours, as well as blocks of time to check your feeds. Start with your meetings and work projects or top goals and block out times on your calendar to focus on project work, and shorter blocks as breaks.
- Consider a Social Media Break: Taking a planned hiatus from constantly checking social media can help you get back to a more centered place to complete your work. Your digital detox can be as short as a day without social media distractions, or much longer if you’re willing to cut your information intake.
We’ve seen more people replace their small screen devices (smart phones, iPhones) as most people would rather consume content on larger screens; so we’re not as glued to our smartphones as we were two or three months ago. The desktop versions of websites such as Facebook.com, Netflix.com, and YouTube.com are experiencing a surge in traffic while their mobile apps, on the other hand, are getting less engagement.
Are the changes in media consumption going to stick with us? These changes may be around for a while because it’s going to take a lot of time before everything goes back to normal. Contact us if you’d like to know how to make the most of your marketing budget.
