I have recently taken part in a survey created by An De Jonghe, a headhunter in IT who is currently finishing a book on social networks worldwide. The survey aimed to to determine which networks are used most in different countries, who uses them, and why. Below you’ll find the results (taken from here) and my thoughts on them.

Over 850 people from 54 countries took part in the online survey.

Who was the average Joe who filled out this survey?

Male, between 30 and 40 years old, in a relationship, with children. Above you can see the percentage of people who participated in each country. Surprisingly only 27% of women participated, even though they are generally considered as being heavier users of social networks.

Which social networks were found to be most popular?

Linkedin clearly takes the lead when it comes to business networking, or networking in general, in the demographic group that was surveyed. This is exactly the reason why I believe that all the people who are leaving Linkedin now and focusing all their efforts on Facebook, are making a mistake. Don’t get me wrong, Facebook is definitely my preferred network these days but I still think that many professionals view Linkedin as a more appropriate platform to network.

Why do people join a social network?

Surprisingly, a whopping 89% put “professional use” as their number one reason to join an online community. 53% use social networks to socialize and stay connected with friends and a meager 16% join social networks if they cater to their hobbies. An states that these results completely disprove the belief that online communities are predominantly used by teenagers who like to chat and socialize. She also writes that this survey makes you question the survival chances of specialized networks (niche networks) that don’t currently offer a business advantage.

I must say that I think these numbers are somewhat skewed given the demographic of the group surveyed and the fact that a large group of the participants are users of Ecademy, a business networking site. If a younger, less “business oriented” group of people had been surveyed, I think that most of them would say they use networks for socializing and interacting with their friends.

Is it important that people can use their own language?

Even with globalization and the increasing use of English, the majority of people think it is important to be able to use one’s own language when interacting online (40%). 31% feel it is convenient but not necessary; 28% don’t feel it is important. If you’re launching a network today, this is definitely important information to remember. Wouldn’t you want to score points with your potential users by offering them the possibility of using their own language?

Would people prefer to pay a membership fee for an ad-free network or would they prefer a free account with advertising?

20% of users are willing to pay for the privilege of having an ad-free community, while 80% are not. It would be interesting to calculate how much money you could earn with – say- Google Adwords (the preferred partner for most small networks) as well as offering 20% of your estimated public an ad-free environment and charging them a membership fee.

Would people join a network because someone famous is a member?

20% of people said they would. When A Small World (a so-called “gated community” which is invite-only) reportedly counted Paris Hilton and Tom Cruise amongst its members, everyone and his poodle wanted to join. An writes that one Korean network has used this trick successfully by openly announcing which celebrities were members, but strangely enough most networks don’t use this marketing trick.

Frankly, I think I understand why other networks haven’t used this marketing ploy. I could care less whether Brad Pitt is a member of the community or not. What I care about is that the network serves my needs in the best way possible with a nice and user friendly interface.

How much time do people spend on their social network(s)?

The majority of people visit their site(s) several times a day (37%) or once a day (18%). 22% visit their networks several times a week. That adds up to 77% of all respondants who are intense networkers -much more than what most surveys seem to suggest. The fact that many people were introduced to this survey through one network or another obviously embellishes the results, but even so, An says she wonders whether social networking is establishing itself as an accepted business practice (similar to prospecting) which people can do during business hours instead of a tool to find a new date.

I definitely see that as time passes, more and more companies are understanding the significance of social networking, and are even requesting that their marketing departments become socially active on the net in order to create a buzz regarding their products and market them virally.

Would people consider joining a network outside their own country?

Three quarters of all participants consider themselves true cosmopolitans, while 13% are only interested in local communities and another 13% would only go as far as neighbouring countries.

As the results show, most people understand the importance of social networks allowing us to bridge geographical borders and network globally with people from all over the world, and not just in our local area.

What are the top 3 things people do when turning on their PC’s?

While email and surfing the Internet take the first two spots, checking your social network profile comes in third with 44%. It has become considerably more important than Internet banking, online shopping, or gaming, adding to the notion that for a growing group of Internet users, social networking has become an integral part of their online identity and habits.

Do people participate in offline meetings of social networks?

While a majority of those surveyed do not participate in offline meetings (54%), 46% do participate in such events, suggesting that social networks can establish further contact with and between members if they choose to do so. That being said, a vast majority of online communities do not organize face to face meetings, probably because this demands certain logistics and resources such as time, money, and volunteers, which not all networks have access to.

I also think that not all social networks fully understand the significance of organizing such local, offline events and should make more of an effort to organize them, as this will give these networks a big advantage over their competitors.

Do people use video networks?

81% off all participants in this survey said that they do not use video networks. An writes: Is video networking a hype or has the business world yet to discover/appreciate the power of video? I am sure it is the latter.

Frankly this statistic is doubtful in my mind. However as we all know, only about 1% of YouTube users actually upload videos to the site. The rest of the people see the site more as their “entertainment” viewing channel and not as a place to interact with friends. I also think that as podcasting becomes a more popular medium, this statistic will change dramatically.

In conclusion, I question some of these results and think that they were largely affected by the demographic of its participants. In any case, it is definitely clear that the demand for social networks is growing rapidly. I still find much of this information quite valuable for anyone who’s launching or has launched an online social network. These results will be used in An’s book, “Social Networks Around The World: How is Web 2.0 changing your daily life?”, which will be out on Amazon later this year.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 11th, 2007 at 5:58 am and is filed under Social Networks, Web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.