Social media use to take off

Three-quarters of all broadband users will use social media in 2012, forecasts Strategy Analytics, as user-generated content increasingly competes with professional media.

by Helen Leggatt

Around 373 million broadband-enabled Internet users will use social media such as YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and MySpace this year, as well as using podcasts, writing blogs and contributing to review sites. This figure will have risen to 1 billion in five years time, predicts Strategy Analytics in their new report “The People’s Revolution: Implications of Web 2.0 and Social Media Applications”.

Social media has had an enormous impact on Internet users, turning them from content readers into content makers.

Assuming social media sites can better their financial stability, they will surely give professional media a run for their money when it comes to attracting eyeballs. Social media users aren’t particularly open to advertising, so the balancing act will be delicate. However, with more and more users are using social networks to communicate with each other, instead of email, the amount of time being spent on social media sites is set to rise and attract more to join so as not to “miss out” on the new social scene.

“The next 12-18 months will be pivotal for many of today’s leading social media sites, as they must prove their financial raisons d'etre,” said David Mercer, Principal Analyst at Strategy Analytics.