There is a wealth of research showing that social media users in emerging markets are proportionally more active  than their Western counterparts.    For example, Indonesia, Russia and Egypt all have 80%+ of their internet populations on social media.   Meanwhile, Israeli and Russian social media users spend twice as much time on those channels than people in the UK and US.

A latest stat released by Instagramers, a global Instagram community with 240 local chapters celebrating its 1st birthday today, shows the same holds true on the photo-sharing network.     The three most active Instagramer communities measured in photos tagged and uploaded are the Philippines, Brazil and Turkey.

No, this doesn’t look at actual user numbers but it certainly measures engagement.   Others groups in the top ten are actually sub-sets of the main country groups, such as Igersistanbul (57k photos) and Igersaopaolo (36k tagged images).   A dynamic list can be found on Statigram (one of several web based services for viewing Instagram posts).

Related articles

• The success story of 2011, Instagram growing 2x as fast as Foursquare (liesdamnedliesstatistics.com)
• Why Join Instagram? (socialmediatoday.com)
• If Your Are Levi’s, Say So On Instagram and Twitter #IAmLevis (adpulp.com)

As we head into 2012, a number of social networks are being touted as the next big thing – this includes Path, Pinterest…and SoundCloud.    With SoundCloud having just raised $50 million, we’ve produced a Rabbit (where I work) guide to sound based communities.

I’ve included an embed above, we’ve got other guide and resources up on the Rabbit site available for download.

Related articles

• Why I Will Continue To Use SoundCloud (thedigitalminstrel.wordpress.com)
• SoundCloud Raises $50 Million (socialtimes.com)
• Kleiner Perkins backs SoundCloud funding (news.cnet.com)
• SoundCloud gets US$50m for sonic growth (go.theregister.com)
• SoundCloud Raises $50 Million Round Led By Kleiner Perkins (eu.techcrunch.com)

Despite commanding 95% of social networking time in the US it is Twitter which shaped the news agenda in 2011.

According to Highbeam Research (via Inside Facebook), Twitter received around 50% of mentions about social media in the (traditional) media, compared to 45% odd for Facebook

Except for February and April, Twitter was ahead every month, including September when Facebook launched Timeline and other features.

Why does this matter? Despite dwarfing every other social network and having a (now) celebrity founder in Mark Zuckerberg, the news media was more interested in the role Twitter had to play in society.   Which brings to mind the old arguments that many like myself used to make about the need to look beyond Twitter’s numbers to influence.

At 100 million regular (according to Twitter) users , Twitter’s user base is of course now substantial.   Twitter’s lead in the news agenda would have been down to everything from the Arab Spring, which has resulted in Arabic becoming the fastest growing language on Twitter , to here in the UK celebrity led scandals, which resulted in Twitter appearing on the front page of the nation’s tabloid newspapers

Photo – L.e.e  

Related articles

• Study: Twitter Beats Facebook for Media Attention in 2011 (insidefacebook.com)
• Facebook Sues Mark Zuckerberg (No, Not That Mark Zuckerberg) – Reuters (reuters.com)
• Facebook Subscriber # > Twitter Follower # ? (techcrunch.com)

More than half of UK mobile users that access social networks from their phones do so almost every day.   This is according to Comscore, which says that overall around 35% of the UK mobile phone population uses social networks from their phones.

Note that around 44% of UK mobile users have a smartphone, with iPhone users most likely to go online.   The overlap between smartphone and mobile social network users won’t be exact, but it will be pretty strong.

As a result, the conclusion is that smartphone ownership is increasing mobile social network use.   And that use is by and large heavy, rather than infrequent.

Related articles

• The rise of mobile social networking (conversations.nokia.com)
• 55m people using social networks via mobile in ‘EU5′ nations (mobile-ent.biz)

This comes from charity donations site JustGiving (via The Telegraph) using their own data.    However, JustGiving also shows that the vast majority of donations (97%) were made through Facebook.

That’s probably more an indication of how JustGiving works, the fact that they have apps they want to push (another stat – apps drive more donations) and that Facebook appears to be the default for charities.

However the JustGiving research does show that Twitter is a potentially fruitful area that charities should consider.

Related articles

• Twitter users most generous charitable donors on social media (telegraph.co.uk)
• Barclaycard Freedom partnership announced at inaugural JustGiving awards (moneyexpert.com)
• The Guardian: Charities need to understand Facebook if they want to raise money on it (guardian.co.uk)

In fact, separate research from analytics firm Crowd Science does show that liking a brand Facebook page is the exception and not the norm.   ‘Only’ 9% of Facebook users have liked a brand page.  And not surprisingly, the older the user, the less likely they are to give up a like.

Of course, a pool of 1/10 Facebook users is still significant given the ’1-9-90′ school of thought that you need to target the 9% of people who actively comment and share.

So how do you get that 9% to actually like your page.   The most effective routes are also the obvious ones.   Crowd Science’s infographic shows that many Facebook users simply want to show support for a brand, while good and interesting content works well too.

As a result, placing prompts for visitors to like your Facebook page on other social properties / your website makes sense.   As does a widget or preview bar displaying the type of content they might expect to see.

Related articles

• Crowd Science’s Facebook Study: People Most Often Click Like to Show Support and Enjoyment (insidefacebook.com)
• Less than 20% of Facebook content is Liked (infographic) (zdnet.com)
• 58% of Facebook Users Expect Exclusive Content From Business Pages [Data] (hubspot.com)

It shows “social moms” (i.e. mothers who use social networks) are more likely to shop, post and comment.   And mothers that blog are – as you’d expect – more active still.

Scarborough Research shows  that (in the US) blogging mothers are 51% more likely than average to visit a newspaper website.   Meanwhile in the past month, 90% visited a social media site (actually – that stat could easily be turned around:  10% of mommy bloggers *aren’t* on social media).

As far back as 2008 TNS showed that in the UK, housewives spend 47% of their free time online, more than even the Chinese (who as a whole spend 44% of leisure time on the Internet).

Meanwhile, Mothers are also more likely to engage in so-called in-store mobile browsing, with 68% going online via their phones while in store.  In other words they will be having conversations online or checking out information, while walking down the aisles of your shop – while ignoring the £25 billion worth of POS material that has been put there for them to see.

Related articles

• When it comes to product reviews, social media users trust each other (liesdamnedliesstatistics.com)
• Social Media Adoption and Fortune 500 Companies – Have They Reached their Peak? (socialtimes.com)
• 80% Research Products on Web, Most use Social Media Tools for Peer Opinions before Buying (prweb.com)
• A guide to social media influence (liesdamnedliesstatistics.com)
• Marketers And Advertisers: Women Are Driving The Purchasing Bus, Get Used To It (stargroup1.com)

Secondly, and related to that there is the notion of social TV – people talking live and online about what’s on the television.

In fact, a Nielsen study shows it’s tablet owners in particular who have their devices open while the box is blaring away in the background.   42% of tablet owners, most of which are still iPad owners , use their device in front of the TV every day.

For smartphone owners the % is 40%, whereas owners of ereaders such as the Kindle are the least distracted, with only 14% reading the ereader and simultaneously watching TV every day.

And what are tablet users doing?   60% are reading their emails while a programme is on.   However, 42% of men and 48% of women are on social networks. Significantly, one in five even looked up information related to an ad.

Who says social media spells the death of TV advertising?  As that last stat (and plenty of case studies) shows, well crafted ads with social elements can even go a lot further thanks to social channels.

Related articles

• 40 percent of people use their tablets and smartphones while watching TV (intomobile.com)
• What TV viewers are doing on their tablets, smartphones (lostremote.com)
• Tablets, smartphones distracting TV watchers (survey) (zdnet.com)

This time from Nielsen, which shows that among consumers using social media, consumer ratings and reviews come top as the preferred source of product information.

The Nielsen blog post doesn’t specify where the study took place, but assuming it was carried out in the US, social media users = just over half of the population (allowing for 3/4 Internet penetration and 3/4 Facebook use among the Internet population)

Less well received?   A company’s Twitter ID at 7%.  I interpret that in two ways.   First of all, corporate social media accounts aren’t trusted to deliver unbiased product information, but ones run by ordinary consumers are.

Secondly, you may not look to a social media feed for product information, but you will turn to it for news and / or complaints.

Finally, the Nielsen study again confirms female dominance in the social media realm with women on social networks more likely to talk to their friends about brands than men (81% vs 72%)

Related articles

• The State Of Social Media 2011: Social Is The New Normal (fastcompany.com)
• The Nielsen Social Media Report and What It Means to Customer Service (customerthink.com)

It’s a proof point that illustrates the need for marketers to look beyond the big number:  Never mind how many people are on network X, who are they and what are they doing?   And it shows, someone who interacts with you on social channels is more likely to – to put it crudely – buy your stuff.

The fact that engaging with potential customers online leads to greater sales is now reinforced by a Bain report (via the excellent Brafton blog).

Essentially Bain found that  “customers who engage with companies over social media spend 20 percent to 40 percent more money with those companies than other customers.”   Why invest in social media?  There’s the answer, especially in these tough economic times, engaged consumers are more likely to get out the credit card / cheque book.

Possibly the most interesting chart though from the Bain report is this one.   It shows how social media has ticked a number of boxes from awareness to purchase to retention for major brands.

Cut out and keep and send to your boss / client!

Related articles

• How social chatter drives TV ratings (liesdamnedliesstatistics.com)
• Engaged Social Media Users Spend Up to 40 Percent More [Data] (hubspot.com)
• Poll Shows High Use of Social Media for Healthcare Marketing (healthcaremarcom.wordpress.com)
• Parents catching on to communicating with kids via social media (zdnet.com)