Posted by

Barry Siskind

Community Manager

 

Wen you hear the words “frantic, anxious, antsy, miserable, jittery, crazy”, what comes to mind?  If you thought of someone addicted to drugs or alcohol you are right.  And surprisingly, these were words expressed by a group of college students who were experiencing withdraw from social media.

Susan Moeller, University of Maryland Professor of Media and Public Agenda, just completed a study where she asked 200 students to give up media for 24 hours and then asked them how they felt. Their response included the feelings above.

We can easily transfer  this response  from students in Maryland to those in virtually every country where media is pervasive. The fact that the next generation of exhibitors and attendees are affected by something entirely different than those who proceeded them is a rude awakening for our industry .

One of the topics in the upcoming UFI Open Seminar in Europe is “Can social media help to implement or grow an exhibition.”   We need lots more information like this particularly for those of you who are still sitting on the social media fence waiting to see which direction it goes.

The study is available online at: http://withoutmedia.wordpress.com/