Socially Aware^© refers to a pattern of responses offered by people who are community minded and socially active. Information vacuum cleaners, this segment are always searching for something new and different and new things to learn. They believe strongly in the concept of learning a living rather than earning a living, always seeking new opportunities for training, education and knowledge.

Given a choice between A and B, they will seek more information about their choices and consider the consequences of each choice before making a decision. They are thinkers, sometimes spending so much time thinking about the issues that they never actually get things done. This, coupled with a strong sense of social responsibility and an attraction to convincing others of their opinions results in a great deal of this segment being involved in pressure groups, and working as public servants, politicians and researchers. This segment can be idealistic, believing they can change the world or save the world if they can just get enough people to agree with them.

Whilst this pattern of responses can lead to someone being passionate in their opinions, they can equally be changeable - As Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...Speak what you think today in words as hard as cannonballs, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said today".

Their attraction to things which are new and innovative usually means that they are the first to take up on new products and services, often just for the excitement of having a new toy - regardless of the cost. This interest in innovation and things which different also leads to an interest in design and fashion. Their fashion sense tends to be very designer orientated, but with a tactile nature, they prefer natural fabrics.

A thirst for knowledge and information and a global focus leads to them being heavy consumers of newspapers, particularly national newspaper and major metropolitan dailies. Their interest in magazines reflects their desire for new information which is not presented in mainstream media and technology, being more likely to be readers of The Monthly, Big Issue, BRW and New Scientist. Their heavy readership of national newspapers also makes them more likely to read the news inserted glossy magazines like the Financial Review magazine, Boss and Wish as well as Good Weekend. They are also frequent flyers, reading Qantas - The Australian Way and other airline magazines.

They tend to be light consumers of commercial television, preferring the ABC and SBS, which offer a more globally focussed and more cerebral approach. They tend to be attracted to programmes which give an alternative perspective and more information on issues such as Foreign Correspondent, Four Corners, Compass and Catalyst. Their taste in comedy tends to be more witty or satiric like the Hollowmen or Summer Heights High.

This segment tends to be one of the main supporters of the Arts, particularly those which are less mainstream. Their taste in music includes classical music, jazz, folk, world and other less popular, more "sophisticated" music. They are more likely to listen to ABC radio and community broadcasters who are capable of catering to their tastes and their opinions.

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* Devised by Michele Levine of Roy Morgan Research and Colin Benjamin of The Horizons Network 1997.