---
title: Social Hasn't Realized Its Inbound Potential (Yet)
description: Highlights from the newest Sprout Social Index.
---

[Social Media Marketing Magazine | News, Tips, Insights & Thought Leadership](https://www.websitemagazine.com/social-media)

# [Social Hasn't Realized Its Inbound Potential (Yet)](https://www.websitemagazine.com/social-media/social-hasnt-realized-its-inbound-potential-yet)

 Written by [Amberly Dressler](https://www.websitemagazine.com/social-media/author/amberly-dressler) | Feb 23, 2017 6:00:00 AM

**There will likely come a time when the importance of the inbound messages a brand receives on the various social media networks outweigh the outbound messages a brand sends to get people to their site, buy or stay top of mind.**

 While we're not there yet, the latest [Sprout Social Index](https://sproutsocial.com/insights/data/q1-2017/) found that millennials (ages 18-34) are twice as likely as any other generation to turn to social, rather than phone or email, to communicate with a brand with 30 percent of this demographic engaging with a brand they follow on a monthly basis compared to 32 percent of Gen X (ages 34-54) who do so as well. When it comes to baby boomers (ages 55-plus), they mainly observe with only 14 percent regularly starting a dialogue or interaction with a brand.

 As millennials and their even younger counterparts get more buying power, the shift from social being a powerful outbound platform to a critical inbound one is bound to happen. Brands need to actively listen and respond to queries made on social networks to have younger demographics remain loyal. As of now, only 1 in 10 social messages actually get a response from a brand according to Sprout Social's report, which is based on 280,000 public social profiles including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

 Other interesting findings from the Index include: 

¬¨¬®‚Äö√†√´  Facebook is the most popular network for 43 percent of respondents.

¬¨¬®‚Äö√†√´  Gen Xers are twice as likely to unfollow a brand that says something offensive or in opposition to their personal beliefs than any other generation. Millennials unfollow because they had a bad experience (21 percent) or because they found a brand's social marketing annoying (22 percent). Baby Boomers? Too much spam causes 29 percent to take direct action and opt-out.

[View full post](https://www.websitemagazine.com/social-media/social-hasnt-realized-its-inbound-potential-yet)

```json
{
  "@context" : "http://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Amberly Dressler"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2023-05-01T22:34:25.090Z",
  "datePublished" : "2017-02-23T06:00:00Z",
  "headline" : "Social Hasn't Realized Its Inbound Potential (Yet)",
  "image" : {
    "@type" : "ImageObject",
    "height" : 196,
    "url" : "https://22253773.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/22253773/Imported_Blog_Media/keepexploring-3-1-1-1.jpg",
    "width" : 196
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://www.websitemagazine.com/social-media/social-hasnt-realized-its-inbound-potential-yet",
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "height" : 60.0,
      "url" : "https://22253773.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/22253773/gradient-regular@3x-1.png",
      "width" : 242.48277
    },
    "name" : "The Latest Social Media Marketing News, Tips, And Insights From Website Magazine"
  }
}
```