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Social media tracker
Power to the people - Social Media Tracker Wave 4
3
Welcome to Wave 4
04 Introduction
07 Methodology
14 Key highlights
15 The rise of video
20 Social networks grow even more
24 The rationalisation of social media
28 Country spotlights
Introduction
Jeff, Australia
Carlos, Brazil
Dorota, Poland
Funda, Turkey
After four surveys of active internet users—those who Other key statistics include:
use the internet every day or every other day—showing
• The total estimated global active internet audience is
impressive growth for all types of social media, consumers
now 625m
are starting to focus their digital life around the likes
of Facebook, MySpace and Orkut. • Mobile internet usage has now reached nearly a fifth of all
active internet users. Seventeen percent now access
It’s not that consumers are cutting back on blogging or
internet on the move as well as at home, work or college
sharing images it’s just that they are increasingly opting
to do it via their social network page rather than the likes • Widgets continue to thrive with 34% of social network users
of Flickr and Blogger. installing them for their own use and 24% installing them to
impress visitors to their profile page
76% of social network users, for example, upload photo
photos, up from 45% in Wave 3, and 33% upload videos “ Social media is a very fast-evolving landscape and one that’s
compared to 16.9% last time around. taking an increasingly important role in consumers’ digital
lives. Brands that want to engage with consumers in these
The heavy and varied usage of social networks has proven
spaces need to understand how and where and why they
that these sites are no fad. Not only have 96% of social
are using the many different platforms that enable content
networkers visited a friends’ social network page but
creation and sharing.”
nearly two-thirds of all active internet users have spent time
managing their own profile. “ Although the explosive growth of social media has attracted
a lot of media coverage and hype only ‘Power to the
Another key change to note has been the expansion of
People’—which began in 2006 and now has four waves of
video usage, with significant increases both in the number
comparable data—has been able to track actual usage and
of social networkers and bloggers uploading video but also
consumer uptake,” says Glen Parker, Research Director at
in terms of the number of the active internet users watching
UM EMEA.
audio-visual content.
In the Philippines, just over 98% of active internet users About Wave 4
have watched video and the figure is also more than eight UM questioned 22,729 active internet users in 38
out of 10 in markets such as Korea, Spain and USA. countries between November 2008 and March 2009 for
Wave 4, making it the largest global analysis of social
media usage.
Introduction
Welcome to the fourth installment of UM’s ongoing Our first study was published in September 2006 and Wave
investigation into the rise and rise of social media. 4 gives a snapshot of the situation now—research took place
from November 2008 to March 2009.
After three waves of growth across all social media
platforms, this time the picture is nuanced and much By comparing these four global examinations of the reality
more interesting. behind the hype of social media, we are able to provide a
clear picture of how the landscape has changed and crucially
Consumers continue to flock to digital destinations in work out how it is evolving in future.
order to create and share content, but they are now
becoming more selective in terms of where they are This latest report highlights:
doing it.
• New platforms for video
In essence, the tools of social media are starting to coalesce
on to a single platform type—the social network. There may • Why social networks continue to grow
be some way to go before the phrases “social media” and • How social media platforms are rationalizing.
“social networks” are synonymous, but the consolidation
has started. • Changes in key markets
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Social media is driven by active internet users, if you don’t They are the best proxy for the future, over time all internet
use the internet regularly you a re unlikely to sign up for users will increase their usage and eventually everyone
tools such as blogging or set up a social network profile. will become an active users, just as consumers made the
transition from occasional to regular TV watching in the
Active internet users drive adoption of platforms and tools; 1950s and 1960s.
they will determine which tools and platforms become
dominant in the social media space.
30%
20%
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0%
Wave 1 Wave 2 Wave 3 Wave 4
Sep 06 June 07 March 08 March 09
1 USA
96.3m
20
12
26
17
24
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28 11
19
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9 14 10
8 15
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25
30 China 37
159.6m
31
32
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36
29
38
Key highlights—global stats from Wave 4
There are now an estimated Social networks continue to grow. Nearly two-thirds of active
internet users have now joined a social network site, up from
all humans and one in three Social networks are now a regular part of the online
experience with 64.1% of active internet users spending time
internet users. managing their profile.
networkers have
uploaded video to
their profile, up
Glen, London from 16.9% in Matt, USA
Wave 3
RTING
IMPO6
3%
Uploading videos—Wave 3 & 4
Thinking about using the internet, have you ever done the following? Wave 3 4
Active internet users uploading videos to a video sharing site
Global Germany
Australia Italy
China France
Philippines Spain
Russia UK
Korea USA
Wave 1 2 3 4
Social networks grow even more
(and consumers really use them)
It’s very easy to set up a social network profile, but the
key question is whether the excitement starts to pall after 71.1% have visited a friend’s
a few weeks.
social network page
The answer is very clearly not. Consumers are signing up
for profiles in larger numbers in Wave 4 and spending time
keeping them up to date. Nearly two-thirds have managed
a social network profile.
Consumers are
signing up for
profiles in larger
numbers in Wave 4
and spending time
Andrea, Germany keeping them up Jeff, Australia
to date.
Carlos, Brazil
Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4
21
Thinking about using the internet, have you ever done the following?
Active internet users create a profile on my social network
Global Russia
France Spain
Germany UK
Italy USA
20
12
26
17
24
11 18
28 19
21
9 14 10
15
13 23
8
16
22 27 33
25
30 China
37
111.8m
31
32
35
34
36
29
38
The rationalisation of social media
Content posted
Blog writers only: ‘‘When writing your blog
what topics do you normally post?’’
s
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It had to happen. The days of posting written commentary The decline or stasis in the use of separate blogging or
on a blog, going to a separate site to upload images or photo-sharing sites suggests that social media is being
video and then managing your network of friends via rationalised. The addition of new functionality to platforms
a third location were always limited. originally designed to serve each of these areas also
highlights their convergence.
The days when a consumer would either restrict him or herself
to just one of these activities or go to three different sites to Bloggers, for example, are no longer restricting themselves
upload content are disappearing. to text: they are adding images and video as well as music
and widgets to their prose in ever greater numbers.
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Dmitri, Russia
25
The rationalisation of social media, cont’d
e
Social Network Users:
se
e
m
‘‘What do you do with your social networking profile?’’
to
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rs
fo
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% social networkers
The greatest beneficiary of consolidation, however, is the Wave 4 shows active Internet Users are using social network
social networks that enable users to do everything they profiles as the hub for their social media. There are significant
can on a blogging site and more. These platforms – and increases in the number of users messaging friends, finding
there are different dominant players depending on the new friends or joining a group.
market – continue to grow even as other elements of
the social media universe stagnate or decline. At the same time, traditional social network activities are
being accompanied by the uploading of videos and photos,
blog postings and even dating. All of these activities are
showing significant rises in Wave 4.
Wave 4
es
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27
ap
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)
Country spotlights—USA
When it comes to numbers America is a dominant player Wave 1 2 3 4
in the social media space, despite having an internet
penetration at just 70% – well below the Nordics, Korea,
Canada, Australia and Japan.
More than 96m active internet users translates into 63.7m Blog readers 62% 51% 61% 66%
blog readers, 31.9m bloggers, 57.8m active managers of
social network profiles and 79.9m video watchers.
Manage Social
43% 60%
Network profile
Visit a friend’s
51% 67%
social network page
The 79.1% figure is over five percentage points down on the Blog readers 38% 54% 67% 58%
same statistic from Wave 3, but remains significantly ahead
of Wave 2’s 61%.
Manage Social
60% 64%
Network profile
Visit a friend’s
68% 71%
social network page
There has also been a decline in the number of active Internet Blog writers 6% 8% 28% 28%
Users who are watching videos. This has fallen from 77.1%
to 74.1%, although to put this in context, back in Wave 1 the
figure was just 20.1%.
Manage Social
43% 50%
Network profile
Visit a friend’s
45% 53%
social network page
For example, when it comes to accessing the internet on the Blog readers 72% 91% 92% 88%
move, Korea sits at just 6%.
Visit a friend’s
77% 76%
social network page
Carlos, Brazil
Manage Social
76% 72%
Network profile
More Indians are managing social network profiles at 78%, Blog readers 65% 84% 79%
visiting friends’ social network pages (82%) and uploading
photos – (77%).
Theresa, London
Manage Social
65% 78%
Network profile
Visit a friend’s
72% 82%
social network page
Blog readers 58% 85% 89% 90% Despite having internet penetration of just over 20%,
universe sizes remain solid—although below some of the
more exaggerated figures that are often quoted—but are
still a fraction of what they will be when a greater proportion
of the world’s most populous nation has access to the
internet.
Blog writers 58% 62% 71% 81%
As in many Asian markets, blogging remains a major social
media platform in China. The number of consumers reading
blogs has risen to 90% from 89%, while the number writing
blogs is now more than 81%.
Create Social 49% 63% 70% Social networks are catching up but still have some
Network profile
way to go with 72.3% managing their social network
profiles. Video is unsurprisingly big-nearly 90% are
watching video online.
Visit a friend’s
75% 82.25%
social network page
Michael, Germany
Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4
39
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