Wave 4

July.09

Power to the people Social media tracker

Power to the people - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

3

Welcome to Wave 4 04 07 14 15 20 24 28

Introduction Methodology Key highlights The rise of video Social networks grow even more The rationalisation of social media Country spotlights

Introduction UM’s latest “Power to the People” survey has revealed dramatic changes in the way that consumers are using the internet to create and share their thoughts, pictures and videos.

Wave 4 of UM’s research into the facts behind the hype of social media reveals that social networks are becoming the dominant platform for content creation and content sharing.

Carlos, Brazil

Jeff, Australia

Dorota, Poland Funda, Turkey Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

5

After four surveys of active internet users—those who use the internet every day or every other day—showing impressive growth for all types of social media, consumers are starting to focus their digital life around the likes of Facebook, MySpace and Orkut.

It’s not that consumers are cutting back on blogging or sharing images it’s just that they are increasingly opting to do it via their social network page rather than the likes of Flickr and Blogger.

76% of social network users, for example, upload photo photos, up from 45% in Wave 3, and 33% upload videos compared to 16.9% last time around.

The heavy and varied usage of social networks has proven that these sites are no fad. Not only have 96% of social networkers visited a friends’ social network page but nearly two-thirds of all active internet users have spent time managing their own profile.

Another key change to note has been the expansion of video usage, with significant increases both in the number of social networkers and bloggers uploading video but also in terms of the number of the active internet users watching audio-visual content.

In the Philippines, just over 98% of active internet users have watched video and the figure is also more than eight out of 10 in markets such as Korea, Spain and USA.

Other key statistics include: • The total estimated global active internet audience is now 625m • Mobile internet usage has now reached nearly a fifth of all active internet users. Seventeen percent now access internet on the move as well as at home, work or college • Widgets continue to thrive with 34% of social network users installing them for their own use and 24% installing them to impress visitors to their profile page “ Social media is a very fast-evolving landscape and one that’s taking an increasingly important role in consumers’ digital lives. Brands that want to engage with consumers in these spaces need to understand how and where and why they are using the many different platforms that enable content creation and sharing.” “ Although the explosive growth of social media has attracted a lot of media coverage and hype only ‘Power to the People’—which began in 2006 and now has four waves of comparable data—has been able to track actual usage and consumer uptake,” says Glen Parker, Research Director at UM EMEA.

About Wave 4 UM questioned 22,729 active internet users in 38 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 investigation into the rise and rise of social media.

After three waves of growth across all social media platforms, this time the picture is nuanced and much more interesting.

Consumers continue to flock to digital destinations in order to create and share content, but they are now becoming more selective in terms of where they are doing it.

In essence, the tools of social media are starting to coalesce on to a single platform type—the social network. There may be some way to go before the phrases “social media” and “social networks” are synonymous, but the consolidation has started.

Our first study was published in September 2006 and Wave 4 gives a snapshot of the situation now—research took place from November 2008 to March 2009.

By comparing these four global examinations of the reality behind the hype of social media, we are able to provide a clear picture of how the landscape has changed and crucially work out how it is evolving in future.

This latest report highlights: • New platforms for video • Why social networks continue to grow • How social media platforms are rationalizing.

• Changes in key markets

Internet penetration by market

In

% Online (All adults)

100

d So ia 7 u .

Ec th 1% ua Af Ph do ric il r a Ch ipp 12 9.4 i in .3 % M na es % ex 2 2 Pe ico 2.5 1.5 ru 2 % % Ru 2 4.9 s 6. % Ro sia 2% m 27 Br an % az ia Tu il 33 rk 34 .

Co ey .4%4% l 3 Po om 5% rt bia It ug 3 al a 8 y l Cz 4 39 .8% ec 8.8 .8 Po h % % la Re H nd p. un 5 4 Li ga 2% 8.8 th ry % La ua 52 tv nia .5 M ia 5 % al 5 9% Fr ays 9% an ia G ce 62 er 6 .

8 Be ma 5.7 % lg ny % Si iu 6 ng m 7 Au ap 67 % s o .3 H tria re % on 6 6 7 Sp g K 8. .4 ai on 3% % U n7 g K 69 7 0 Ca 0. .5% .5 % n 9% Ja ada p U an 72 S 7 .3 Ko 74. 3.8 % r 7 % D ea % en 7 6 Au ma .1 st rk % Sw ra 8 l 0 e ia .

N de 80 4% et n .6 Fi her 80 % nl la .7 N and nd % or s w 83 82 ay % .9 % 86 %

Figures sourced from internetworldstats.com

0 Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

7

Methodology The Social Media Tracker has retained the same methodology from Wave 1 through Wave 4, enabling comparison between data sets. All surveys have been scripted and hosted on UM’s in-house online research system, Intuition.

All surveys are self-completed and the data collected is entirely quantitative. Every market is representative of the 16-54 Active Internet Universe. For Wave 4, 22,729 internet users in 38 countries were interviewed.

New markets are Belgium, Colombia, Ecuador, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Norway, Peru, Portugal, South Africa, Singapore and Sweden. To be included, consumers needed to use the internet every day or every other day.

Marek, Czech Republic Henry, Singapore

Methodology:

Growing expansion of research universe

Wave 1:

• • • • • • • • • • •

Australia China France Germany Italy Philippines Russia Korea Spain UK US

Wave 2:

• • • • • • • • • • •

Australia Brazil China France Germany Greece India Italy Japan Malaysia Mexico

Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

• • • • • • • • • •

Pakistan Philippines Russia Singapore Korea Spain Taiwan Thailand UK US

9

Wave 3:

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Australia Austria Brazil Canada China Czech Denmark France Germany Greece Hong Kong Hungary India Italy Japan

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Mexico Netherlands Pakistan Philippines Poland Romania Russia Korea Spain Switzerland Taiwan Turkey UK US

Wave 4:

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Australia Austria Belgium Brazil Canada China Columbia Czech Denmark Ecuador Finland France Germany Hong Kong Hungary India Italy Japan Latvia

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Lithuania Malaysia Mexico Netherlands Norway Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Romania Russia Singapore South Africa Korea Spain Sweden Turkey UK US

Methodology,

cont’d.

Why do active internet users matter?

Social media is driven by active internet users, if you don’t use the internet regularly you a re unlikely to sign up for tools such as blogging or set up a social network profile.

Active internet users drive adoption of platforms and tools; they will determine which tools and platforms become dominant in the social media space.

They are the best proxy for the future, over time all internet users will increase their usage and eventually everyone will become an active users, just as consumers made the transition from occasional to regular TV watching in the 1950s and 1960s.

Reach over time Active internet users: “Thinking about using the internet, which of the following have you ever done?”

90%

Read blogs Start my own blog/weblog

80%

Leave a comment on a blog site Upload my photos to a photo sharing site

% Ever done

70%

Upload a video clip to a video sharing site Watch video clips online

60%

Listen to live radio/audio online

50%

Create a profile on a social network

40%

Visit a friend’s social network page

Manage a profile on a social network

30% 20% 10% 0%

Wave 1 Sep 06

Wave 2 June 07

Power to the people - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

Wave 3 March 08

Wave 4 March 09

11

Methodology: U niverse size—putting it into context calculated using local market population estimates

Estimated worldwide 16-54 active internet universe = 625m users

2

1 USA

96.3m

6

Asia & Oceania

North America 1 USA

96.3m

13 France

19.7m

29 Australia

8.6m

2 Canada

14.1m

14 Germany

23m

30 China

159.6m

15 Hungary

2m

31 Hong Kong 2.9m

16 Italy

9.7m

32 India

12.3m

21.9m

17 Latvia

0.8m

33 Japan

21.8m

4 Colombia

3.8m

18 Lithuania

0.9m

34 Malaysia

11.9m

5 Ecuador

2.5m

19 Netherlands 4.9m

35 Philippines 4.2m

6 Mexico

4m

20 Norway

1.8m

36 Singapore

2.1m

7 Peru

6.6m

21 Poland

7.9m

37 Korea

19m

22 Portugal

2.9m

23 Romania

4m

24 Russia

9.8m

25 Spain

8.5m

26 Sweden

4m

27 Turkey

4.8m

28 UK

19m

Central & South America 3 Brazil

Europe 8 Austria

1.4m

9 Belgium

2.8m

10 Czech Rep. 3.6m 11 Denmark

2.2m

12 Finland

1.9m

Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

Africa 38 South Africa 2m

3

4 5

7

3

13

20

28

19

9 13 22

25

26

11

12

24

17 18

21

14 8

10

15

23

16

27

33

30 China

37

159.6m 31

32

35

34 36

29 38

Key highlights—global stats from Wave 4 There are now an estimated 625 million active internet users, one in thirteen of all humans and one in three internet users.

Social networks continue to grow. Nearly two-thirds of active internet users have now joined a social network site, up from 57% in Wave 3. • Malaysia leads the way with 47% penetration of all 16-54-year-olds.

Social networks are now a regular part of the online experience with 64.1% of active internet users spending time managing their profile. • Danes have the highest penetration among all 16-54-year-olds, followed by Malaysia, Norway and Sweden.

Blogging has nearly reached saturation in terms of total numbers, with 71% reading blogs, a small increase from 70% last time out. Active internet users however, do continue to put finger to keyboard in greater numbers, globally up from 34% to 40%.

Social media platforms are becoming more multi-media.

The number of bloggers and social network users who have uploaded photos, videos, music and widgets has continued to rise.

Social media is going mobile. Seventeen per cent of active internet users globally now access the internet on the move as well as at home, work or college.

Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

15

The proliferation of video In Wave 1, social media was, broadly speaking, a text-based occupation for the majority of active internet users.

Consumers typed or read; uploading pictures or watching video was a minority occupation.

Faster broadband, the rise of YouTube and its ilk and the ability to embed video on everything from blogs to social network profile pages has made the moving image an essential part of the social media landscape.

In Wave 4 we have seen a high penetration of active online consumers uploading and watching videos on video sharing sites such as YouTube. However there has been a notable and significant increase in the number of bloggers and social networkers uploading audio-visual material to these platforms.

Glen, London

RTING IMPO6 % 3

Video watching is now at 83% amongst active internet users.

This is consistent with Wave 3 but significantly ahead of the 32% recorded in Wave 1 and the 63.3% in Wave 2. The reason for this recent levelling off is that, for many markets, there is barely any more room for the penetration of watching video amongst active online users to rise.

All of the Latin American markets have a penetration of more than 90% and in 75% of markets surveyed the penetration of video watchers amongst active online users clears 80%.

Thirty-three per cent of social networkers have uploaded video to their profile, up from 16.9% in Wave 3 and 32% of bloggers have uploaded video, an increase of 8%. social

33% of networkers have uploaded video to their profile, up from 16.9% in Wave 3

Matt, USA

Uploading videos—Wave 3 & 4 Thinking about using the internet, have you ever done the following?

Active internet users uploading videos to a video sharing site

All respondents

Korea

35.5%

35%

Brazil

43.09%

70.98%

38.26%

Peru

50.53%

Netherlands

47.54%

Singapore

53.16%

50.55%

Latvia

41.2%

45.51%

Portugal

36.32%

35.98%

Norway

37.8%

67.51%

Colombia

China

58.89%

57.97%

Hong Kong

51%

57.88%

Turkey

57.09%

50.68%

Ecuador

Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

4

Malaysia

60.13%

Mexico

3

50.06%

Philippines

India

Wave

68.48%

31.16%

35.42%

37.46%

30.3%

17

Australia

Romania

30.2%

47.24%

22.56%

Sweden

35.01%

Italy

29.71%

19.51%

Denmark

26.2%

20.84%

30.79%

Germany

33.46%

28.28%

29.64%

Czech Rep.

27%

24.03%

27.37%

France

21.71%

21.45%

29.82%

Japan

20.16% 18.66%

South Africa

Spain

31.88%

32.01%

Lithuania

Russia

25.98%

32.47%

UK

29.71%

Finland

32.64%

Canada

27.26%

25.71%

29.26%

Poland

38.61%

27.3%

Belgium

Austria

US

36.85%

24.93%

33.3%

Hungary

25.74%

16.52% 18.29%

Video watching—Waves 1-4 Thinking about using the internet, have you ever done the following?

Active internet users watching video clips online

Global

Germany

63.3%

32%

83.7%

82.8%

Australia

25.2%

44.3%

76.9%

74.1%

79.2%

75.1%

Italy

57.5%

78.4%

79.1%

China

56.2%

20.1%

34.6%

63.3%

France

78.9%

90.1%

Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

89.1%

23.4%

53.6%

61.3%

63.2%

19

Spain

Philippines

39.9% 60.7%

98.7%

98.1%

57.5%

67.9%

79.4%

84.1%

87.3%

32.3%

61.2%

85.5%

79%

USA

Korea

29.7%

69.4%

UK

Russia

21.6%

28%

73.5%

86.2%

82.8%

31.8%

51.7%

Wave

74.3%

1

82.9%

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 a few weeks.

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.

71.1% have visited a friend’s social network page

And they also spend time visiting their friends’ profiles as well: 71.1% have visited a friends social network page, a figure that’s increased in every market surveyed with the exception of Brazil and Mexico.

Consumers are signing up for profiles in larger numbers in Wave 4 and spending time keeping them up to date.

Andrea, Germany

Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

Carlos, Brazil

Jeff, Australia

21 Belong to a Social Network, Waves 1-4

Wave

1

41.7%

74.02%

2

3

Thinking about using the internet, have you ever done the following?

Active internet users create a profile on my social network Global

Russia

27.3% 36.2%

56.6%

62.5%

France

16%

10.3%

35.6%

50.1%

37.3%

39.5%

45.4%

59%

27.4%

60%

64%

42.5%

59%

UK

19%

40.55%

46.8%

Italy

11.3%

85.3%

Spain

Germany

22%

23.1%

26.9%

USA

19.1%

40.8%

45.9%

39.2%

40%

4

Methodology: Universe size—putting it into context Estimated worldwide 16-54 active internet universe = 625m users

2 Thinking about using the internet, have you ever done the following?

Active internet users managed a social network profile

1 USA

57.8m

6

North America

Asia & Oceania

1 USA

57.8m

13 France

10.2m

29 Australia

5.3m

2 Canada

9.4m

14 Germany

11.5m

30 China

111.8m

15 Hungary

1.7m

31 Hong Kong 1.9m

16 Italy

4.2m

32 India

9.6m

Central & South America 3 Brazil

15.6m

17 Latvia

0.5m

33 Japan

10.2m

4 Colombia

3.5m

18 Lithuania

0.5m

34 Malaysia

9.4m

5 Ecuador

1.9m

19 Netherlands 3.6m

35 Philippines 3.9m

6 Mexico

3.1m

20 Norway

1.5m

36 Singapore

1.6m

7 Peru

5.3m

21 Poland

5.6m

37 Korea

11.9m

22 Portugal

2.1m

23 Romania

2.7m

24 Russia

8.1m

25 Spain

4.9m

26 Sweden

2.6m

27 Turkey

4.1m

28 UK

12.1m

Europe 8 Austria

0.8m

9 Belgium

2m

10 Czech Rep. 1.5m 11 Denmark

1.7m

12 Finland

1.2m

Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

Africa 38 South Africa 1.4m

4 5

7

3

23

20

28

19

9 13

22

25

12

26

24

17 18

11

14

21 10 8

15

23

16

27

33

30 China

37

111.8m

31

32

35

34 36

29

38

The rationalisation of social media Content posted

50.2%

om Re c

Ph

ot

os

Wave 3

m en Fa de vo d ur w ite eb /c O si ur pi te ni re s on nt s ly on Vi lis de te p ro os ne du d ct to U s pl m an oa us d d ic br m w Ap us an eb ic pl ds si ic te at s io ns /W id ge ts

Blog writers only: ‘‘When writing your blog what topics do you normally post?’’

32.0% 28.8% 27.6%

23.8%

20.0%

14.5%

% blog writers

It had to happen. The days of posting written commentary on a blog, going to a separate site to upload images or video and then managing your network of friends via a third location were always limited.

The days when a consumer would either restrict him or herself to just one of these activities or go to three different sites to upload content are disappearing.

Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

The decline or stasis in the use of separate blogging or photo-sharing sites suggests that social media is being rationalised. The addition of new functionality to platforms originally designed to serve each of these areas also highlights their convergence.

Bloggers, for example, are no longer restricting themselves to text: they are adding images and video as well as music and widgets to their prose in ever greater numbers.

70.48%

Wave 4

43.3%

m en Fa de vo d ur w ite eb / Vi si cu te de rr s os en tly O lis pi te ni ne on d s to St on or m p ie us r o s du ic fr w ct om U eb pl s oa an si ot te d he d s m b r ra W us bl n id og ic ds ge s ts th Ap at pl ar ic e at us i o W ns ef id ul /W ge fo id ts r ge m th ts e at I w an t ot he rs to se e

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Re c

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Ph

25

34.3% 31.9% 31.7% 28.8%

% blog writers 26.3% 18.4% 17.02% 15.5%

Dmitri, Russia

The rationalisation of social media,

th at id ge ar ts e us th at ef ul I w fo an r m t ot e he rs to se e

Content posted on a social network

us

ic

Social Network Users: ‘‘What do you do with your social networking profile?’’

64.8%

60.9%

/w g

13.5%

om Pr

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16.9%

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18.5%

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41.6% 25.8% 21.1%

In

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45.0%

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Wave 3

cont’d

7.8%

% social networkers

The greatest beneficiary of consolidation, however, is the social networks that enable users to do everything they can on a blogging site and more. These platforms – and there are different dominant players depending on the market – continue to grow even as other elements of the social media universe stagnate or decline.

Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

Wave 4 shows active Internet Users are using social network profiles as the hub for their social media. There are significant increases in the number of users messaging friends, finding new friends or joining a group.

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.

81.5% 76.3% 74.3% 56.4% 47.9%

M

33.5% 33.1% 29.9%

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27

29.1% 24.4% 23.7%

% social networkers

Scott, USA

23.5% 17% 14.5%

Country spotlights—USA When it comes to numbers America is a dominant player in the social media space, despite having an internet penetration at just 70% – well below the Nordics, Korea, Canada, Australia and Japan.

Wave

More than 96m active internet users translates into 63.7m blog readers, 31.9m bloggers, 57.8m active managers of social network profiles and 79.9m video watchers.

Blog readers

The most dramatic change for the US in Wave 4 has been the rise in the number of active internet users who have managed a social network profile in the last six months, up nearly 50% from 43.2% to 60%.

As in many other markets, social networks also attract a number of nosey friends who have yet to put their own profile online.

Video continues to become as mainstream as TV viewing for active internet viewers with 83% now watching audiovisual content via the web.

62%

2

51%

3

4

61%

66%

Blog writers

20% 21.2%

26%

33%

Create Social Network profile

39%

43%

59%

Manage Social Network profile

43%

60%

Visit a friend’s social network page

51%

67%

Video watchers

Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

1

32%

40%

52%

74%

83%

29

Country spotlights—UK 1

2

3

4

67%

58%

26%

25%

60%

64%

Manage Social Network profile

60%

64%

Visit a friend’s social network page

68%

71%

86%

79%

As it frequently does in so many other areas, the UK is defying global convention when it comes to watching videos.

Unlike most of the rest of the world, Brits are watching fewer videos than they did in Wave 3.

Wave

The 79.1% figure is over five percentage points down on the same statistic from Wave 3, but remains significantly ahead of Wave 2’s 61%.

Blog readers

38%

Blog writers

10%

Create Social Network profile

27% 27.4%

In other areas, however, the UK has been happy to go with the rest of the world. Reading blogs is down at 58% whilst writing has remained pretty much consistent with Wave 3 at 24.8%.

Social network usage remains on the rise with 64.1% managing a social network profile, up from 60% last time around and 71.1% visiting their friends’ pages.

Graham, London

Video watchers

Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

32%

54%

19%

61%

31

Country spotlights—Germany Germany has been steady in its adoption of social media and there are few drastic changes to report. By global standards Germany has been a cautious adopter of all the major platforms; an increase of five per cent here, two per cent there is the norm.

Wave

1

2

3

4

Blog readers

20%

15%

55%

57%

Blog writers

6%

8%

28%

28%

22%

19%

41%

47%

Manage Social Network profile

43%

50%

Visit a friend’s social network page

45%

53%

One area where it does standout is the dramatic increase in the number of people visiting friends’ profile pages. Fifty-three per cent of active internet users popped over digitally, a rise of nearly 25%.

There has also been a decline in the number of active Internet 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%.

Hayley, UK

Create Social Network profile

Video watchers

20%

44%

77%

74%

Country spotlights—Korea Korea is always cited as one of the most advanced global markets for telecommunications and internet; our figures show that the truth among active internet users aged 16-54 is more prosaic.

Wave

For example, when it comes to accessing the internet on the move, Korea sits at just 6%.

Blog readers

Despite a drop in the percentage of active internet users creating blogs, Koreans are more likely to put their thoughts to keypad, image or video than every other nation in the world, apart from Malaysia. It must also be noted that whilst there has been a percentage decline, the real numbers of active internet users creating blogs have increased from 9.8 million in Wave 3 to 11.6 million in Wave 4.

Blog writers

The number of blog readers is also much higher than average with 88% reading the words of others in Wave 4, a slight drop from 92% in Wave 3.

Create Social Network profile

The other area of difference is in the number of consumers uploading video in the last six months. At 34% of the total 16-54-year-old population, a greater percentage of Koreans are making films available than any other market.

2

72%

91%

46%

55%

3

92%

4

88%

72%

61%

56%

62%

Manage Social Network profile

70%

63%

Visit a friend’s social network page

77%

76%

Video watchers

Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

1

28%

30%

74%

86%

83%

33

Country spotlights—Brazil Brazil has yet to reach the stage of rationalisation. Brazilians still appear to be using a variety of platforms in order to create content.

Social network activity has remained constant especially when we once again consider the enormous increase in the active online universe.

The penetration of creating content on blogging sites has remained consistent at 50%, and whilst the percentage of those reading blogs has fallen by a seemingly dramatic 28%, it must be noted that the actual numbers of active online users reading blogs has risen from 12 to 13.5 million.

Wave

Blog readers

Blog writers

Create Social Network profile

2

76%

35%

75%

3

4

87%

62%

50%

51%

74%

69%

76%

72%

Carlos, Brazil Manage Social Network profile

Visit a friend’s social network page

Video watchers

Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

77%

86%

84%

94%

93%

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Country spotlights—India India records steady progress across the board with rising use of all social media platforms. Total penetration remains low, but among active Internet Users statistics are going in the right direction.

Wave

More Indians are managing social network profiles at 78%, visiting friends’ social network pages (82%) and uploading photos – (77%).

Blog readers

There are slight increases in the number watching videos and reading blogs up from 72.4% to 73.0% and 62.2% to 63.1% in the last six months, respectively.

1

2

4

84%

79%

47%

54%

66%

78%

Manage Social Network profile

65%

78%

Visit a friend’s social network page

72%

82%

86%

87%

Blog writers

65%

3

27%

Theresa, London Create Social Network profile

Video watchers

43%

59%

Country spotlights—China Wave

1

Blog readers

58%

Blog writers

58%

2

85%

62%

3

89%

71%

4

90%

81%

The Chinese market is very much an early adopters market. The penetration of social media in the last six months remains well below 10% of all 16-54s for every single platform.

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.

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 Network profile

49%

Manage Social Network profile

Visit a friend’s social network page

Video watchers

56%

79%

Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

63%

70%

64.43%

72%

75%

82.25%

90%

89%

Social networks are catching up but still have some way to go with 72.3% managing their social network profiles. Video is unsurprisingly big-nearly 90% are watching video online.

Tala, UAE

The key to success in social media

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Our 10-step programme for successful social media is:

Every element of digital media is becoming socialised, providing marketers with new ways to engage a target audience like never before.

1 Listen to/observe what the target audience is doing in social media

Wave 4 shows that social consumption of digital content is either already highly penetrated among active internet users or still growing rapidly. It also sheds new light on consumer motivations for social media behaviour. We now know that the desire to belong to something is as motivating as the desire to communicate and express one’s self.

UM believes that the engagement opportunities of social media are deeper than those of traditional mass media and that the power of social amplification is also much stronger.

At the heart of our thinking is the concept of “Gravitational Mass Media” where audience engagement provides a dense core that then attracts other consumers.

2 Create a “social object” that is relevant to the brand and of genuine interest 3 Segment the target into tribes. Give them something they can join.

4 Allow them to engage via their preferred platform of choice—create multiple interfaces to your community 5 Make the experience better when shared 6 Optimise your content for sharing—particularly via newsfeeds and Twitter 7 Use paid-for media to get the ball rolling 8 Take advantage of extreme targeting offered by social networks 9 Make sure you have the resources to manage your community management and refresh the content.

10 Track the results and optimise where necessary The data in Wave 4 juxtaposed with the relatively low ad spend in social media shows that consumers are out in front of marketers. The opportunity for success in the relatively uncluttered landscape will never be higher.

Michael, Germany

Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

What UM can do for you?

The figures and analysis in this report are just a small fraction of the insight available from the “Power to the People” Social Media Tracker.

Wave 4 and the three preceding tranches of data contain a much wider range of information: detailed facts, figures and insight that are crucial to understanding how consumers are behaving.

If you want to know how your consumers are using social media, if you want to know how social media influences your consumers’ purchase decisions or if you want to know how effectively your communication is cutting through in the social media landscape, then we can help.

We can tell you how the social media revolution is already hitting your business and how you could make the most of this communication opportunity.

If you’d like to know more please contact Glen.Parker@umww.com

Glen Parker Research Director, EMEA

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Power to the People - Social Media Tracker Wave 4

Universal McCann Š 2009