What Customers Want. The findings in this report by IBM which have raised most comment are that the expectations and desires of customers are often entirely different from the expectations of companies engaging in Social Media.

The results show that customers interact with brands only if they see a benefit in the form of discounts and specials, or if they are already supporters. This is the opposite of what businesses said they think customers want - connection and community.

There are lots of interesting stats regarding who's using it and how - the entire thing is worth reading if you have time. From Social Media to Social CRM

Some findings:

  • by a huge percentage, most people use Social Media for contacting friends and family
  • of the millions of people who have accounts, only 5% are active users

The 75% of people who occasionally use Social Media and the further 20% who have accounts but don't participate are the challenge - finding a strategy to engage with them and offer them something of value.