Britain rejects tweeting and texting for tradition to share baby news as personalised birth announcements boom
London (PRWEB UK) 4 July 2013 -- • 82% say social media is impersonal and gimmicky
• Personalised cards rated above phone calls
Despite the explosion in social media, it’s a total ‘no-no’ when it comes to announcing a new baby according to new research released today. The ‘Psychology of the Announcement’ report reveals that Brits overwhelmingly favour a more traditional personal touch over tweeting and texting to share the good news, and when it can’t be delivered face to face – personalised cards are considered the next best thing, even more so than a phone call.
Carried out for PaperShaker (http://www.paper-shaker.com) by consumer behaviourists Trajectory, the report shows that two thirds of UK adults (74%) think it is bad manners to announce major milestones by text, with 82% saying announcements on social media sites such as Facebook are too impersonal ... and even gimmicky. Surprisingly, even the greatest lovers of social media in their 20s and 30s agree that social media is the worst way to share the big news (78%).
Read pages from the report* on the PaperShaker blog here and view infographics here.
The UK's desire for a more personal touch when it comes to announcing births reflects a huge and remarkable growth in the popularity of personalised announcement cards in recent years. A staggering 9.55 million personalised birth announcement cards are sent annually in the UK to celebrate typically 764,000 births. Yet despite the UK's reputation for etiquette, Britain's are positively card lazy compared to their card crazy French neighbours, who send a whopping 30 million a year. And clearly just any old card won’t do, with 85% of Brits preferring to receive, and 84% preferring to send, a personalised announcement card rather than an ordinary card.
The report indicates there is also a huge psychological benefit to sending personalised cards. 88% of UK adults state that receiving personalised birth announcement cards makes them feel valued, with 87% saying it is a stylish way to make the announcement and 91% believing it’s a thoughtful touch. Interestingly the responses are almost identical for every single generation and gender. They are also considered a lovely thing to keep by parents of every single age group – they are often kept by Mums much like a hospital name tag as a momento of the birth.
Commenting on the findings, Psychologist and Director of the Social Issues Research Centre, Peter Marsh says:
“Etiquette is the kind of cement that keeps the social fabric from disintegrating – whether it’s trivial communication or much deeper emotional states – and when it comes to ‘babyquette’, this research shows the rules could not be more defined. If you think someone has gone to the trouble to think about the message, the design and the occasion rather than sending you some bland, impersonal stuff then you might think better of them.”
The UK's European neighbours are in agreement, with respondents in France and Germany stating that birth announcements by text, email, and especially social media are the worst ways to announce a child’s birth.
However, despite the overwhelming aversion to announcing births using social media, some of Brits are still going against the babyquette grain. Londoners to those in Yorkshire and Scotland are equally social media loyal with 11-12% using these platforms to break the news.
Lawrence Merritt, Managing Director of PaperShaker discussing the research says:
“The Psychology of the Announcement report simply confirms what we have known for a while – that when it comes to sharing important news, such as the birth of a baby, an emotionally charged physical announcement card that can be kept and treasured forever cannot be beaten. Clearly it is just not a LOL kind of occasion."
“PaperShaker is all about helping people celebrate and share their big life occasions through personalised cards. PaperShaker helps us scratch our creative itch and unleashes our desire for self-expression at major milestones. PaperShaker is the ultimate in social media, in that it allows consumers to take their images, combine them with our stunning designs and convert them into something physical for the ultimate sharing experience.”
Paper-Shaker.com is an exciting way to design unique personalised invitation and announcement cards with a process that couldn’t be easier and market-leading customisation tools. Simply go online and choose from over a thousand industry-leading designs or upload your own original design or photo in JPEG format. Your creation can be tweaked every step of the way from layout to background colours, fonts, text and illustrations making the options limitless and photos can all be edited too.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
1. The Psychology of the Announcement report was produced for PaperShaker by consumer behaviourists Trajectory Partnership. The report includes pan-European quantitative research, in the UK, France and Germany. The consumer survey, conducted between 29th May-3rd June 2013, polled the opinion of over 4,000 respondents from national representative samples (2,083 in the UK, 1,003 in France and 1,028 in Gemany) aged 18+.
In addition, several experts were interviewed for their perspectives, from social historians to psychologists. These included: social commentator Peter York, psychologist and Research Associate at the University of Lancaster David Ellis and Director of the Social Issues Research Centre, Peter Marsh.
2. PaperShaker, launching in July 2013, is part of the PhotoBox Group – Europe’s leading personalised product printing company with over 24 million members. It is present in the UK and France, and offers consumers fully customisable personalised invitation and announcement cards for births, weddings and parties (soon to be expanding into stationery).
3. *Please note that due to space limitations on the blog, not all of the report's pages are viewable. If you require the report as it stands in full, please find it attached.
Website: http://www.paper-shaker.com
For further information and images please contact:
Luke Freeman
Tel: 0203 048 0101
Email: lukefreeman(at)bondyconsulting(dot)com
Luke Freeman, 020 3048 0101, [email protected]
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