SocialSphere, Inc.

I remember it like it was yesterday.  It was one of our first SocialSphere staff meetings -- before we even moved into Harvard Square -- Jonathan, Brett and Max laughed at me (and still do) when I declared in May 2007 that "email is dead."  Well ... I may have been a little premature, but someday I may be right.  In the meantime, I got some retribution -- as in Nielsen's latest report on Social Networking's New Global Footprint. 

There are a lot of very useful insights in the report, here's my take on the top 5 -- and more importantly, what you can do about it.  Today.

1. Social networks and member communities are the 4th most popular activity on the internet (globally) -- ahead of email (65%).  Behind search (86%), general interest portals (85%) and software manufacturers (73%), members communities (67%) are the fourth most popular online activities people are engaging in today -- and growing about twice as fast as the other 4 categories.  It's not like TV or radio -- or even the first generation of the net -- member communities are different and they are not going away.  While the gap is only a point or two now, it will only grow over time as my kids and their friends get older.  Who knows what they will use, but it won't be email. They use text, IM and Facebook to connect now -- email is basically their spam folder.  They will demand that brands listen to and engage them, or find others that do.
2. Time spent on blogging and social network sites grew at over 3x faster than overall internet growth.  The numbers are staggering -- all Internet growth grew 18%, blogs and communities grew 63% and Facebook grew 566% (and no, this is not a typo).  Hint:  every member of your company should be on Facebook today.  I was talking to one of our IOP students today -- bragging that I was the 34,512th member of Facebook in the spring of 2006.  She beat me by 1,000 or so -- the crazy thing is that it took Facebook about two years to go from 0 to 35,000 members  (Chavez was 1,000) -- and another three years to go from 35,000 to 175,000,000.  (See network effect)
3. Facebook's greatest growth globally is among those 30 to 49 (+24 million).  You heard me quote Andreeson last week (Facebook is 6th largest country in world) -- this week it is that in the last year Facebook has welcomed about twice as many members between 50 and 64 (~14 million) than under 18 (~7 million).  Pfizer, Merck, Mercedes -- listening?
   
4. Facebook is much more popular in Europe than it is in the US.  Nearly half (47%) of Brits and 44% of Italians visit Facebook -- which is followed by Australians at 38% and US at 33% -- but rapidly growing.  Keep an eye out for Germany, where Facebook penetration is less than 10% but likely to grow very quickly this year and next (NB: I will be reporting from Munich on this exact subject at the end of the month).
5. Despite, Facebook's world dominance -- it is not a zero-sum game.  The big news here is that social networks have bypassed email as an internet activity.   If you're thinking about a global campaign, know that you must play on Facebook -- but you must also be sensitive to the local culture and customs -- which means that in China, 51.com and Xianei are where it is at, in Brazil it's Orkut, in Japan Mixi and in Germany it is the homegrown, Wer-kennt-wen.

I am more than aware about the tremendous financial stress that about every American company and citizen is under right now.  Times are tough -- and who knows when they will get better.  I say that this is the right time for innovation and the right time to take a pass from the old ways of doing business that helped get us where we are.  Do what Barack Obama did when he was facing the Clinton machine in 2007 -- he reinvented presidential campaigning.  Do the same in your organization.  Read the Nielsen report and a hundred others like it and reinvent your organization.  I guarantee you can do it for less money than what most companies spend with their old-school agencies in one month.

P.S. I like comments.  Leave one.  I don't want to beg.

P.P.S.  I am thinking about offering a prize to the most insightful and funniest ones between now and April 1.

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (6)

Subscribe to this comment's feed