Social Media Marketing and Branding

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According to a new study from Nielsen social media users grow steadily on a worldwide basis: in April 2010 22% of the internet usage time has been used to engage with social media.

22% sounds like not really big? You have to take into account this report is on a global scale. Here are a few more findings:

75% of Internet users worldwide visit a social network or blog when they go online — that’s a 24% increase over the same period last year. And the average international user spends 66% more time using these sites than a year ago – a growth from 3 and a half hours last year to 6 hours in April 2010.

Not surprisingly Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia are among the world’s most popular brands. Proof of the rising popularity of social media has been reported by Nielsen just two month ago.

Some more facts:

• Brazil boasts with 86% the largest percentage of Internet users visiting a social network.
• Australians spent 7 hours and 19 minutes in April 2010 on social networking sites — more than users in the U.S., who spent six and a half hours.
• Facebook is big in Italy, where two-thirds of the users have been active in April 2010. In Australia, the U.S. and the UK more than 60% of Internet users have been active visiting the site.

How much time do you spend on social networking sites? Have you contributed in the last year to this global increase of social media usage?

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