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� METRO Monday, May 26, 2008 D

Urbanites like to sharewith their online pals

‘SHARING is caring’, said one par-ticularly saccharine Care Bear manyyears ago.Since the arrival of Bebo, Facebook

and MySpace into our lives, the urgeto communicate and share informationhas never been as strong.But how many of us really like to

share?Metro recently asked its 2,000-strong

panel of Urbanites if they’ve registeredwith social networking sites.Four out of five hip Metro readers

are currently using them to keep intouch with their online buddies.Their top three favourite sites are Fa-

cebook, with a 53 per cent member-ship; Bebo with 50 per cent; whileone-third prefer MySpace.

by joanne o’connor

But do they actually use them tocommunicate? Not really, it seems.Only 31 per cent of Facebook users

feel the need to log in, a mere 35 percent Bebo their friends regularly, whilea paltry one in ten like spending timein MySpace.Some Urbanites claimed to be irri-

tated by some of the features on net-working sites, such as annoying ad-verts and spam, while two per centwant payment for using the sites andanother two per cent want free stuff.Nearly 40 per cent of networking Ur-

banites described it as a ‘way of catch-ing up with friends’ while others claimto have been bullied into it by their so-cial-networking-addicted buddies.‘I wanted to see what all the fuss was

about,’ was the response of almost 33per cent of curious Urbanites.

‘I wanted to see whatall the fuss was about’

Four out offive Metroreaders usesocialnetworkingsites to keepin touch withtheir onlinefriends, withthe top threefavouritesites namedas Facebook,bebo andMySpace

So what’sUrban Lifeall about?URBAN Life is Metro’s innovativestudy of ‘Urbanites’ – young, full-time working professionals inGreater Dublin. Every year weresearch the opinions of 2,000Metro readers, asking for theirviews on everything from currentaffairs to must-see movies.What do I get out of it?We’re giving away €27,000 in prizes– hundreds of €30 HMV vouchersand a €1,000 in cash after eachsurvey. If you complete five or moreof our six surveys, you will beentered into our €3,000 prize draw.What’s involved?The first survey is in November withone every six weeks. All surveys areonline and take only 15 minutes.Sign me up nowVisit www.myurbanlife.ie/join orFREE TEXT to 50400. Text TNS(space) first name (space) e-mailaddress to register your interest intaking part.

METRO has done it again!Just one year after beingnamed ‘Best New MarketEntry’, the newspaperscooped the prize for ‘BestMarket Research’ for UrbanLife at the All IrelandMarketing Awards. UrbanLife is our online consumerinsight panel comprisingover 2,000 Urbanites (18 to

44-year-old professionals)and is the largest researchpanel ever set up by a singleIrish media company.Through a series ofinteractive online surveys, weget unparalleled insights intothe behaviour and lifestylesof young, affluent consumerswho are media research-savvy. Commenting at the

awards ceremony in Dublin’sCitywest Hotel last Thursdaynight, Lee Thompson,Managing Director MetroIreland, said: ‘This awardtestifies to the appeal of aclearly focused and targetedproprietary study whichenjoys an unprecedentedlevel of trust with itsrespondent universe.’

Metro has real urban insight