TORONTO, April 6 (UPI) -- Canadians are glomming on to Facebook, YouTube and other so-called social media in a big way, a study by media and marketing concerns released Monday indicates.
CNW Group and Leger Marketing said their survey of 1,500 Canadians revealed consumers' use of social media grew 48 percent in the past year. And 49 percent of consumers who use the Internet technology do so at least once a day, the companies said in a news release.
The survey also found that 61 percent turn to social media when researching potential purchases, with 31 percent saying they find the online sources more credible than advertising.
Sixty-three percent said they use social media to keep up to date on news and information, and 40 percent use it to communicate with organizations.
Facebook is the most popular social media space (77 percent), followed by YouTube (65 percent) and MySpace (20 percent), the survey found.
Carolyn McGill-Davidson, president and chief executive officer of CNW Group, said the firms found the results "both startling and reassuring in almost equal measure."
The firms didn't provide a margin of error for their results.
