Universal McCann recently published its comparative study following Social Media trends by three waves: September 2006 (Wave 1), June 2007 (Wave 2) March 2008 (Wave 3).
Here are some research highlights from Wave 3:
1. Social media is a global phenomenon happening in all markets regardless of wider economic, social and cultural development.
2. Asian markets (not including Japan) are leading in terms of participation, creating more content than any other region
3. All social media platforms have grown significantly over the three Waves: Video Clips are the quickest growing platform, up from 31% penetration in Wave 1 to 83% in Wave 3
4. Social Networks: 57% have joined a Social Network, making it the number one platform for creating and sharing content: 55% of users have uploaded photos, 22% of users have uploaded videos
5. The widget economy – 23% of social network users have installed an application – 18% of bloggers have installed applications in their blog templates
6. Blogs are a mainstream media world-wide and a collective rival to traditional media (184m bloggers world-wide, China has the largest blogging community in the world with 42m bloggers) – 73% have read a blog, 45% have started a blog
7. Social media has strong impacts over brand’s reputation – 34% post opinions about products and brands on their blog – 36% think more positively about companies that have blogs.
Social media by waves - Universal McCann survey:
Via Trendspotting.
→ in joysome pursuit of interesting ideas, a frothy cappuccino & a good movie → market segment manager at IBM → (views expressed here are my own, not my employer's)