By comScore
With the widespread adoption of the Internet around the world came the rise of social networking as a global phenomenon. In March 2007, Social Networking as a category had a global audience of less than 500 million users, representing just 56 percent of the world’s online population. In those days, as Thomas Friedman put it, “‘Twitter’ was a sound, the ‘cloud’ was in the sky, ‘4G’ was the name of a parking space… and ‘Skype’ for most people was a typo.”* Email reigned supreme as the king of communication channels online, and the word ‘friend’ was just beginning its metamorphosis from the rigid uni-dimensional noun it was to the ubiquitous, transformative verb it has become.
Since then, the digital landscape has changed immensely. Social networks, which provide platforms for online users to connect, share, and build relationships with others online, have forever altered the lives of individuals, communities and societies all over the world. The growth in popularity of social networking has also created and engendered new online consumer behaviors. The goal of this report is to frame the current state of social networks through the lens of how users around the world have grown to use them over time. A primer of sorts, this report addresses questions such as:
• How extensive is consumer usage of social networking and how does it vary by country?
• What is the current rate of social networking adoption in different parts of the world?
• Which sites are driving this adoption in different markets?
• How are these consumer usage dynamics changing over time?
• Where do these trends appear to be headed in the future?
This report offers a comprehensive summary of the current state of social networking activity, as measured via passively observed digital consumer behavior, providing essential background research and analysis for anyone trying to get a handle on the far-reaching topic of social networking and its implications.
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