Skip to content

Social Media Isn’t a Fad: Infographic Depicting the Rise of Social Networks

I have loved idea of social networking since I first started building websites from code I created in Notepad. As websites evolved into blogs and blogs evolved into networking sites like Flickr, Twitter, Tumblr, and of course Facebook, I embraced each iteration as an opportunity to learn and grow my skill set. I love social media so much that I practice it, read about it, and play with it even when I don’t have to.

I haven’t heard social media called a fad in quite some time. Most businesses acknowledge the importance of social media as a key component to their marketing strategy. Most individuals use at least one social network to keep up with friends or family. Social media and the networks that make them up are fully integrated in our every day lives. We can use them as a tool or as a timesuck (both are equally important in my opinion). (And yet, my mother refuses to use her computer unless she’s watching Netflix or sending an e-mail, but that’s another story.)

The following infographic shares fascinating statistics about the growth of social networks worldwide. Some of the more interesting information for me included the following:

  • If Facebook were a country, it would be twice the size of the United States and it would be the third largest country in the world.
  • Social media may have an impact on whether you’re hired or not.
  • Facebook users share seven billion pieces of content every month.
  • Although most people refer to the main social networks as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, they aren’t ranked as high as you’d think. Facebook rules them all, yes, but Twitter is fifth and LinkedIn is ninth. Are you signed up with Orkut? Apparently it’s big in Brazil and India.

The Growth of Social Media: An Infographic
Source: The Growth of Social Media: An Infographic

7 thoughts on “Social Media Isn’t a Fad: Infographic Depicting the Rise of Social Networks”

  1. Beautiful and so well done! Have you considered doing a similar infographic on how companies are using social learning internally? It might be still too new a concept (for some) to get any solid data, but I would love to see it. My company is in the infant stages of starting a social learning platform and I would love to see how the rest of the corporate world is doing.

  2. Pretty damn impressive! Facebook may have 640 accounts but not all of them are unique users. Cut off all fakes and dupes and youll have not more than 400 mln if not less.

  3. Some pretty big generalizations here, such as “Most individuals use at least one social network to keep up with friends or family. ” Do you mean most individuals in certain countries, in certain age groups, certain socio-economic circles…or something else? Also, a Facebook registered user does not mean an individual…so counting Facebook accounts as “population” is also misleading.

  4. Wow, there’s certainly a good load of information here! Thanks for the statistics–I’ll have to add some more sites to my join list.

Comments are closed.