This fall, our Global Social Media team takes a step back at the five underlying social media trends spotted as of September 2012. With over 1.4 billion social media users (19.2%
increase over 2011) we continue to witness unprecedented growth in an industry where new players, features, and technologies are introduced every single day. And as the industry furthers its scale globally, we'll no doubt see additional shifts in trends and behaviors as new markets enter in with unique cultures and practices of their own.

1. GLOBAL
SOCIAL
MEDIA
TRENDS
Q3
2012

2. Overview
of
Q3
Global
Trends
• Global
Social
Media
Channels
-­‐ Q3
Stats
-­‐ Updates
• Market
Trends
+
Case
Studies
-­‐ La>n
America
-­‐ Europe
-­‐ Asia
Pacific
-­‐ Middle
East
&
Africa
SocialBakers2012
2

3. Global
Social
Pla0orm
Updates
3

4. Facebook:
Q3
Updates
• More
than
955
Million
registered
users
and
543
Million
mobile
monthly
ac>ve
users
• 2.7
Billion
Likes
every
day
• 22%
of
all
web
pages
contain
Facebook
URLs
and
is
the
leading
source
of
referred
social
media
traffic
(26%)
• Audience
remains
largely
US-­‐based
(163M+),
although
markets
such
as
Brazil
(56.7M)
and
India
(53.6M)
are
rapidly
gaining
momentum
• Average
user
is
male
(60%),
and
is
between
the
ages
of
18
and
25
Source:
AllFacebook
Stats
(August
2012)
4

5. Facebook:
Advancements
in
geo-­‐targe?ng
will
allow
brands
to
message
various
audience
subsets
Facebook
will
be
rolling
out
new
features
that
will
allow
brands
to
target
their
posts
to
specific
groups
of
fans
in
the
news
feed
based
on
the
following
criteria:
•
Age
•
Gender
•
Interested
In
•
Rela>onship
Status
•
Educa>on
•
Workplace
•
Loca>on
&
Language
(already
exis>ng
criteria)
5

6. TwiAer:
Q3
Updates
• 500M+
Users
Worldwide
• Top
regions
according
to
user-­‐base
include:
-­‐ Venezuela
-­‐ Indonesia
-­‐ Brazil
-­‐ Turkey
-­‐ Mexico
• The
average
Twiber
user
is
37.3
years
old
• Audience
is
60%
Female
vs.
40%
Male
Source:
h8p://www.ignitesocialmedia.com
6

7. TwiAer:
New
HTML
widget
allows
brands
to
build
a
fully
interac?ve
?meline
on
their
website
Twiber
has
launched
a
new
widget
that
allows
brands
to
embed
an
extensive
scrollable
>meline
and
a
reply
field
directly
in
their
website.
This
allows
users
to:
• Tweet,
Retweet
and
Favorite
posts
• View
expandable
images
• Display
tweets
with
a
specific
hashtag
Sources:
Mashable
2012.
Social
Bakers
2012
7

8. YouTube:
Q3
Updates
• Youtube
is
now
localized
in
43
countries,
across
60
languages
• The
3rd
most
visited
website
• 78%
of
all
traffic
comes
from
outside
the
US
• Youtube
handles
10%
of
the
global
internet
traffic
• 100
million
people
take
a
social
ac>on
on
YouTube
(likes,
shares,
comments)
every
week
Source:
YouTube
Stats
(September
2012)
8

9. YouTube:
Upcoming
redesign
to
offer
new
branding
opportuni?es
for
marketers
• YouTube’s
newest
“Video
Crea>on
Marketplace,”
plahorm
will
serve
as
an
addi>onal
branding
opportunity
for
YouTube
partners
and
adver>sers
• The
channel
is
also
rumored
to
have
a
subscrip>ons
service
in
the
works,
allowing
cable
networks
with
smaller
audiences
to
offer
professional-­‐grade
videos
in
partnership
with
cable
channels
• Redesign:
YouTube’s
new
design
will
soon
present
original
programming
content
and
videos
from
channel
users
in
a
clear
and
balanced
format
Youtube.com
9

10. Pinterest:
Q3
Updates
• The
increasingly
popular
photo-­‐sharing
site
draws
an
average
of
1.36
Million
visitors
per
day
• The
majority
of
Pinterest
users
are
female
(68.2%),
between
the
ages
of
25
and
34
(27.4%)
• Parents
dominate
Pinterest,
accoun>ng
for
50%
of
the
site’s
user-­‐base
• 28%
of
users
have
an
average
household
of
over
$100,000
per
year
• Average
amount
of
>me
spent
on
the
site,
per
visit
is
15.8
minutes
(as
compared
to
Facebook,
which
is
12.1
minutes
per
visit)
Source:
Modea
(July
2012)
10

11. Pinterest:
New
updates
further
prevent
spam
ac?vity
through
the
photo-­‐sharing
site
As
a
part
of
the
site’s
broader
efforts
to
fight
off
spam,
Pinterest
has
begun
blocking
or
stripping
three
types
of
links:
• Affiliate
links:
Pinterest
now
treats
these
as
spam,
which
in
turn
blocks
the
original
poster
from
gelng
a
cut
of
sales
from
any
future
purchases
origina>ng
from
that
link
• Pinterest
is
also
now
flagging
links
posted
with
URL
shorteners,
displaying
a
roadblock
sign
for
any
user
who
abempts
to
click
through
• The
site
is
also
stripping
informa5on
added
to
the
end
of
a
URL
in
order
to
prevent
third-­‐party
click-­‐through
tracking
11

12. LinkedIn:
Q3
Updates
• 175M
Users
• 57.9%
Male
• Ages
25-­‐47
(67.7%)
• 45%
–
Increase
in
Users
Since
2011
• 85.3%
Growth
in
La>n
America
• 39%
of
Users
are
at
decision
makers
(Manager,
Director,
Owner,
Chief
Officer,
Vice
President)
• Industry
representa>on:
-­‐
High
tech
(14.3%)
-­‐
Finance
(12.4%)
-­‐
Manufacturing
(10.1%)
Source:
Z-­‐Juice.com
(July
2012)
12

13. LinkedIn:
New
redesign
shiLs
the
site
from
a
resume
network
to
a
visual
content
sharing
plaMorm
• The
Plahorm’s
recent
launch
of
the
new
simple,
clean
homepage
allows
users
to
easily
browse
news
ar>cles
shared
by
industry
leaders
and
connec>ons
• The
Facebook-­‐like
newsfeed
u>lizes
an
improved
algorithm
to
highlight
top
updates
based
on
users’
profiles
and
interests,
featuring
larger
images
and
liking,
sharing
&
commen>ng
func>onali>es
•
The
update
follows
the
goal
set
by
LinkedIn
during
its
Q1
earnings
call
to
“Simplify,”
allowing
users
to
get
more
value
from
exis>ng
products
and
services
13

14. Sina
Weibo:
Q3
Updates
• Over
300
million
Chinese
users,
with
90%
of
users
between
the
ages
of
18
and
35
• 56%
of
users
follow
businesses
on
Sina
Weibo
and
those
that
do
follow
an
average
of
4
businesses
• Females
more
likely
to
share
product
and
brand
informa>on
on
Weibo
Source:
China
Skinny
(Aug.
2012)
14

15. Sina
Weibo:
Redesign
focused
around
aArac?ng
adver?sers,
improving
sharing
func?onality
Version
5
updates
to
personal
pages
include
Google+-­‐style
private
tweet
sharing
and
a
social
credit
cards
ini>a>ve.
Sina
Weibo
will
also
be
focusing
more
on
abrac>ng
adver>sers
through
addi>onal
streams
for
revenue
growth.
These
include:
• Promoted
messages
and
ads
to
be
displayed
at
the
top
of
users’
streams
for
brands
they
follow
(ads
will
appear
once
every
24
hours
and
then
drop
down
the
feed)
• Businesses
will
pay
a
Cost
Per
Fan
(CPF)
rate
• Redesign
will
also
introduce
a
“self-­‐support
adver>sing
system
for
SMEs
and
for
individual
users”
as
well
as
building
payment
and
credit
systems
Source:
The
Next
Web
(Sept.
2012)
15

16. Social
Media
Trends
in
La=n
America
16

17. La?n
America:
5
of
the
top
10
most
engaged
countries
are
in
the
LATAM
region
• More
than
127M
La>n
Americans
visit
social
networking
sites
per
month,
or
90%
of
the
region’s
online
popula>on
• Users
spend
the
most
>me
on
social
networks
with
a
total
of
7.7
h
hours
per
month,
ahead
of
Europe
(7
hours)
and
North
America
(6.4
hours)
• 31%
of
Internet
Users
In
La>n
America
will
buy
products
online
in
the
next
year,
half
of
them
using
social
media
as
a
referral
site
Source:
comScore
2012
17

18. C&A’s
Social
Shopping
takes
the
concept
of
“Like”
from
the
Facebook
page
into
real-­‐life
Specially
programmed
hangers
displayed
the
actual
number
of
likes
each
of
the
garments
had
received
allowing
indecisive
shoppers
to
see
just
how
popular
each
one
was.
With
the
recent
growth
of
the
Brazilian
economy
and
crea>on
of
the
new
middle-­‐class
spurring
an
ever-­‐hungry
fashion
consumer,
we’re
only
seeing
the
very
start
of
what’s
to
come
in
the
merging
of
online
and
real-­‐world
experiences.
18

19. Social
Media
Trends
in
Europe
19

20. With
over
223MM
registrants
on
Facebook
residing
in
Europe,
awareness
of
the
network
has
grown
to
100%
of
all
web
users
• 61.3%
of
the
European
popula>on
uses
the
Internet,
according
to
Internet
World
Stats.
(Germany
is
number
one
with
67
MM
users,
followed
by
Russia,
61
MM)
• Europe
has
223
MM
Facebook
subscribers.
Awareness
of
Facebook
is
close
to
100%
among
European
Internet
users
• The
>me
spent
social
networking
in
Europe
con>nues
to
grow
at
a
healthy
pace
of
17
percent
year
over
year
Source:
Comscore
(July
2012)
20

21. London
2012:
Social
Media
Olympics
to
Remember
Twiber,
Facebook
and
other
social
networks
were
central
in
breaking
stories
throughout
the
games,
defining
London’s
as
the
first
truly
social
Olympic
Games
• Twiber
served
as
a
legi>mate
news-­‐hub
throughout
the
games,
with
Tweets
quoted
regularly
across
the
major
media
channels.
Twiber
was
also
the
#
1
social
plahorm
used
during
the
Olympics.
• 60%
of
all
social
media
interac>ons
during
the
games
were
posi>ve
• The
majority
of
the
tweets
came
from
UK
(58%)
while
22%
came
from
Europe
and
the
rest
were
from
around
the
world
21

22. Social
Media
Trends
in
Asia
22

23. Asia
Pacific:
Social
Media
con?nues
to
saturate
the
B2C
market
• A
recent
study
by
Buddy
Media
on
Asian
companies
found
that
most
have
social
media
strategies
which
are
ouen
executed
by
internal
marke>ng
teams
• Businesses
look
not
just
to
fan
engagement
but
also
to
sales
and
leads
as
measures
of
social
media
success
• Employee
Resources
are
considered
a
big
barrier
for
brands
and
agencies
wan>ng
to
invest
more
in
social
media
than
budge>ng
allows
Source:
Buddy
Media
(May
2012)
23

24. Coca-­‐Cola:
One
Million
Reasons,
Believe
in
Thailand
• Coca-­‐Cola
campaign
aimed
to
collect
one
million
reasons
why
Thai
people
believe
in
a
brighter
future
for
Thailand
• These
reasons
were
compiled
into
a
book
>tled
One
Million
Reasons:
Believe
in
Thailand,
which
was
delivered
to
public
libraries
in
all
77
provinces
• Fans
could
send
in
messages
through
Facebook,
Twiber,
YouTube
and
Instagram
for
inclusion,
along
with
sending
in
a
message
through
their
dedicated
website
• Created
a
dedicated
hashtag
#COKE1m
for
Twiber
and
Instagram
submissions
24

25. Social
Media
Trends
in
the
Middle
East
25

26. Middle
East:
Online
and
social
marke?ng
ini?a?ves
should
reflect
the
highly
personal
nature
of
business
in
the
region
• Religion
is
a
way
of
life
in
the
ME,
which
has
a
profound
impact
on
culture
and
therefore
social
and
online
behaviors
• In
the
UAE
and
Saudi
Arabia,
accessing
Facebook
is
now
ranks
as
the
first
online
ac>vity
for
internet
users
(before
email
or
chat)
• More
than
50%
of
Facebook
users
in
the
Middle
East,
access
the
social
networking
site
through
mobile
Source:
eConsultancy:
“OpOmizing
content
for
search
in
MENA”
(July
2012)
26

27. Lay’s
Arabia
empowered
fans
to
iden?fy
the
brand’s
next
chips
flavor
for
the
region
• Titled
“Flavor
Me”,
Lay’s
Arabia
embarked
on
a
6-­‐month
long
campaign
in
search
of
the
next
great
chips
flavor
• Campaign
revolved
around
Mrs.
Liza
Lay’s,
a
potato,
who
was
receiving
thousands
of
marriage
proposals
from
various
exis>ng
flavors
and
was
looking
to
the
Lay’s
audience
to
help
her
in
making
a
decision
• Lay’s
encouraged
par>cipa>on
through
a
weekly
prize
draw,
resul>ng
in
just
over
250,000
par>cipants
throughout
the
course
of
the
campaign
27