The Statistics of Social

Over 1.2 billion people worldwide now use online social networks, and you might presume that Facebook is the biggest site in every country, with Americans being the most social-networking obsessed of all – but you’d be wrong. The facts of social networking might actually surprise you.

By and large, Facebook really is the biggest social networking site in the developed world, with 800 million active users and the 1 billion mark expected to be reached in August this year. The United States is home to the largest number of Facebook users – 154.6million in September 2011 – however, that’s still less than 50% of its population. According to Pingdom’s latest statistics, the country with the largest percentage of its population on Facebook is in fact humble Cyprus, with great internet access and an abundance of English speakers allowing 69% of Cypriots to log on.

In terms of sheer numbers of Facebook users though, the second largest number are to be found in Indonesia, a country that can’t seem to get enough of its social networks. Twitter, the world’s largest micro-blogging site, comes second to Facebook in America, Canada and the UK (to name but three), whereas 21% of Indonesians use Twitter, making them the nation that Tweets most of all. Reasons for this are that Indonesians benefit from widespread access to cheap mobile devices and, like Cyprus, have a large English-speaking population.

Social Networking A Social Norm

When looking at user statistics for Facebook and Twitter, the figures for China, the world’s largest population, are incredibly low. That’s because the two sites, along with many others, are actually banned by the notorious Great Firewall of China - or to give its proper name, the ‘Golden Shield’ - yet some users manage to break through.

Does this mean that China is stunted in its consumption of social networking? Absolutely not. Sina Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter, dwarfs the site it was modelled upon with a massive 250million users, compared to Twitter’s 100 million worldwide.

What this effectively shows is that social networking sites are no longer a novelty to their users, but a necessity.

Social networking exploded in Egypt and Russia last year, where sites like Twitter were transformed into vital lines of communication and comment for protesters, leading them towards their respective political revolutions.

Of course, not everybody will find such radical uses for social networking, but examples such as this underline the importance of finding the most suitable platform for your needs. Not all sites operate in the same way or appeal to the same audience, but with almost a seventh of the world’s population using Facebook alone, the benefits of social networking are yours to reap.