Australia - Digital Media - Social Networks

Synopsis

Social media developments are fascinating and exciting. They show the great potential of the new communication and information tools that are becoming available thanks to the internet, Web 2.0, email, broadband infrastructure and mobile phones and tablets. However, for these new social media tools to succeed, they need to be fully and totally integrated into our daily communication.

Popular social media sites have come and gone over the last five or so years as users trend to new features that allow them to experiment and connect. Services include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, Foursquare and LinkedIn Instagram, Pinterest and many others. The battle however is still far from over, with companies trying to build viable business models around their ever increasing customer data bases.

There are currently more than 13.8 million Facebook users, 2.7 million Twitter users and 3.3 million LinkedIn users; and some of them access these sites several times a day. This rise in users continues the trend from 2009, when Australians interacting with brands via social networks jumped by more than 60%. Increased use of mobile broadband through mobile devices is driving consumer uptake, with many businesses now also investing in social media and also expecting a return.

This report includes BuddeComm’s assessment of social media as a communication tool and includes information on some of the most prominent social media sites, including broad statistics both Australian based and global trends.

Key developments:

Social media, users, rankings, on going developments and crowd-sourced campaigns.

Companies mentioned in this report include:

Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, MySpace, Pinterest.