In a poll of 3,000 people conducted by the London Science Museum, Brits ranked Facebook as the fifth most important thing in their lives: more important than such lesser essentials as shoes, showers, flushing toilets, or central heating.
The only four things that ranked more important than Facebook in the poll were:
- Sunshine
- Internet connection
- Clean drinking water
- Fridge
As amusing as it is to see Facebook ranked as more important than a washing machine, fresh fruit, or painkillers it’s stranger still to see the basic internet connection ranked as more important than clean drinking water!
Certainly it must be good to be Facebook and be the fifth most important thing on life in the eyes of so many people. Sadly the industrial market products are never going to make that list — after all even if you need deep drawn parts to make a car, it’s always the car that’s going to rank higher (cars ranked 23 in the poll).
While this study is amusing to look over, it does server to underscore the massive perceived importance of Facebook in people’s day to day lives. Even Google ranked only 22 (just above a car) on the poll. People access Facebook more than any other site from work, including Google. People who use Facebook (which is about 75% of the people in the US) often use it as their primary activity on the internet and make inquiries about products and services — including B2B products — on Facebook itself rather than the internet at large.
The message here: if your business doesn’t have a Facebook presence yet, you absolutely should. You can see the entire list of the top 50 ranked items at the Science Museum of London site here.