Thanks to a small group of power users, the average Facebook user gets more than he or she gives.

According to a new study released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, these power users represent between 20% and 30% of users depending on the type of activity, and they contribute far more  than the typical user does.  Because of them, the average Facebook user gets more friend requests and personal messages than they initiate, is tagged in photos more than they tag others, and receives feedback in terms of “likes” at a higher frequency than they contribute.

Interestingly, the researchers also found that power users tend to specialize, with about 43% being power users in at least one Facebook activity: sending friend requests, pressing the like button, sending private messages, or tagging friends in photos–but only 5% of Facebook users were power users on all of these activities, 9% on three, and 11% on two.

Your Facebook Friends Share More Than You Do

• On average, Facebook users get more friend requests than they make: 63% received at least one friend request during the period we studied, but only 40% made a friend request.
• Unless you’re one of the power users, you receive more “likes” than you like other users’ content:  Users in the sample pressed the like button next to friends’ content an average of 14 times per month–and received feedback from friends in the form of a “like” 20 times per month.
• And users receive more messages than they send:  over the month analyzed by Pew, users received an average of nearly 12 private messages, and sent nine.

The same types of findings apply to commenting and photo tagging, too.

Long-time Facebook Users Are More Active

Pew also found that, the more time that has passed since a user started using Facebook, the more frequently he/she makes status updates, uses the “like” button, comments on friends’ content, and tags friends in photos.  And the more Facebook friends someone has, the more frequently they contribute all forms of Facebook content and the more friend requests they tend to send and accept.  In other words, there’s no sign that users grow tired of Facebook overtime–in fact, the opposite is true.

Your Facebook Friends Have More Friends Than You Do

In this sample of Facebook users, the average person has 245 friends. However, the average friend of a person in this sample has 359 Facebook friends. The finding, that people’s friends have more friends than they do, was nearly universal (as it is for friendship networks off of Facebook). Only those in our sample who had among the 10% largest friends lists (over 780 friends) had friends who on average had smaller networks than their own.

Facebook Social Networks Are Less Dense Than Offline Networks

Not surprisingly, online social networks are less tigthly inter-connected than real-world relationships. A fully connected list of friends on Facebook would mean that everyone knows everyone else.  The average Facebook user had 245 friends, and only 12% of the maximum 29,890 friendship linkages exist between those friends.

But this is what gives online networks there potential reach.  Facebook users can reach an average of more than 150,000 other Facebook users through their Facebook friends; the median user can reach about 31,000 others.  And at two degrees of separation (friends-of-friends), Facebook users in the sample can reach an average of 156,569 other Facebook users.

Once again, however, the Facebook power users skew the average.   In the Pew sample, the maximum reach was 7,821,772 other Facebook users–but the median user can reach 31,170 people through their friends-of-friends.

Are you a power user?  

And could brands be doing more to try and leverage these power users?

Please email marissa@modernmediapartners.com if you have additional updates, or a social network that you feel should be on the list.

Facebook’s IPO Estimates Put Market Value of Average User at $89 to $118

According to Facebook’s SEC filings this week, the site now has over 845 million active monthly users.  Analysts are estimating that the company’s IPO could value the social network at between $75 and $100 billion.  At the high end, that means the market would place the value of the content and other interactions produced by the average Facebook user at $118.

The filing included a Letter to Investors from Mark Zuckerberg’s, in which he positioned the company in light of the social value it was creating.   Among other changes, Zuckerberg believes that Facebook will change the way consumers interact with brands:  “We hope to improve how people connect to businesses and the economy.  We think a more open and connected world will help create a stronger economy with more authentic businesses that build better products and services.”

• Facebook Inc. filed for an initial public offering Wednesday that could value the social network between $75 billion and $100 billion, putting the company on track for one of the biggest U.S. stock-market debuts of all time. (WSJ.com)
• Facebook’s astonishing rise is a metaphor for the emergence of the Internet as a tool for individual self-expression and collective organization. (Time)
• Facebook’s future growth is being driven by user behavior that it has so far failed to monetize: mobile. (GigaOm)
• Facebook’s Platform paid out $1.4 billion to developers in 2011 (Inside Facebook)
• “In the event that Mr. Zuckerberg controls our company at the time of his death, control may be transferred to a person or entity that he designates as his successor” (New York Post)
• How the average investor can get in on the action… (Reuters)
• … and here’s why you shouldn’t bother:  Facebook’s IPO: Do Not Buy (CNet)

In other news, Paul Allen estimates that Google Plus has passed 100 million users this week…

When it comes to measuring ROI, the largest percentage (38%) measure interactions with consumers: the number of fans or followers, likes, comments, etc.  One in four tracks increases in revenue, and 15% track increases in brand awareness from social media marketing activities.

Of those that did not have a strict ROI measurement in place–measuring the increased value against the cost of the investment–100% still believe that social media delivers business benefits.

Most marketers (94%) still rank Facebook as a top channel,  followed by Twitter (74%), blogs (41%) and LinkedIn (32%).  Google Plus was not yet on the radar at the time this survey was fielded.  Why do marketers value Facebook fans?  44% said the reason was new customer recruitment; 18%  suggested that Facebook fans have higher conversion rates and make more frequent purchases.

See more stats from this study in this Wildfire infographic.

How close are you to being able to track a return on investment from social media?

A total of 52% of all adult cell owners used their phone to call a friend for advice, look up reviews of a product online, or look up the price of a product online while they were in a store.  One third (33%) used their phone specifically for online information while inside a physical store—either product reviews or pricing information.

The study found some demographic patterns.  Cell owners who look up online product reviews are more likely to be between the ages of 18-49, to be urban or suburban (vs. rural) and to have attended college–but they are less likely to be white.  These groups are generally the same ones more likely to use their phone for online pricing information.

This has huge implications for brick-and-mortar retailers:  One in five “mobile price matchers” ultimately made their most recent purchase from an online store, rather than a physical location.  Of the respondents who use their phone to compare pricing while in the story, 35% purchased the product at that store.  But 37% decided to not purchase the product at all, while 19% purchased the product online, and 8% purchased the product at another store.

Pew points out that this equates to 5% of all cell owners who purchased a product online this holiday season after looking up its price online from a physical store.

Do you use your phone to comparison shop while you’re in a store?

South Africa’s tweets were more than double those of runner-up Kenya, with 2.47 million tweets.  Nigeria was ranked third with 1.65 million tweets, followed by Egypt (1.21 million) and Morocco (745,620).

The majority of tweeters (57%) in Africa are posting via their mobile device.  The population using the micro-blogging service skews quite young: 60% of Twitter users on the African continent are in their 20′s, while the average age of Twitter users world-wide is 39.

What are they tweeting about? 81% of African Twitter users polled reported that they use the platform to talk with friends.

When does Twitter serve as their main source of information?

• For 76% of respondents, it’s the place to find international news
• 69% use it to find the latest entertainment/gossip
• 68% use Twitter to stay updated on national news
• 43% check Twitter for their sports updates
• Just 22% search for jobs on the micro-blogging platform

Study data also revealed that Twitter users on the continent are generally active on a variety of platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, Google+, and LinkedIn. The study found that “Twitter is helping to form new links within Africa,” as at least half of the Twitter accounts followed by survey respondents were based on the African continent.  60% of respondents “mainly follow African tweeters.”

One surprising element of the research was finding that, for the most part, public figures haven’t joined Twitter in Africa. According to the study (with some exceptions) “business and political leaders were largely absent from the debates playing out on Twitter across the continent.”  Study authors concluded that as Twitter grows across the continent, governments, businesses, and development agencies can’t afford to stay out of this digital space, as reported by PCMag.

Click here to see Portland’s infographic on how Africa tweets.

Please email marissa@modernmediapartners.com if you have additional updates, or a social network that you feel should be on the list.

Tumblr Reaches 15 Billion Monthly Pageviews

Tumblr CEO David Karp revealed new statistics about the blogging platform’s continued growth at this week’s Digital Life Design conference.  Tumblr now has 15 billion impressions monthly and an audience of 120 million people, according this sound clip from The Next Web. The average Tumblr user spends upwards of 30 min on the site each day.

Back in early 2011, impressions were at just 2 billion, showing a remarkable increase in the past year.

Karp focused on Tumblr’s plans for 2012, including a “more deliberate international effort” that will involve “spending more time overseas” and dealing with foreign press.  The majority of Tumblr’s traffic is international, with just 40-45% coming from the US.  Karp spoke of significant growth happening for the platform in both Europe and South America.

Karp also mentioned that 2012 would be a big year for both revenue and product development.

Between 2000 and 2010, the Hispanic population accounted for more than half of the US’s population increase.  Their economic influence doubled from $212 billion in 2000 to $978 billion in 2009, and is expected to reach approximately $1.3 trillion in 2014.  According to the report, moving into digital media is an “effortless extension” of cultural habits centered around “living extremely social lives filled with family and friends.”

Some basic statistics about Hispanics online in the US:

• there are ~32.2 million US Hispanics online in US, or 14% of the total US online population
• that number is expected to reach 42 million by 2015
• in the last year, the number of Hispanics using social media grew 38% (more than double the 16% growth rate for the general population)
• 72% of Hispanic digital influencers chose to communicate online in English, presumably to reach a larger audience

The report emphasized three major findings:

Hispanics view the internet as a virtual “town square” – an environment where they are “motivated to join the conversation.”  Hispanics are 37% more likely than the general population to publish a blog, and 12% more likely to visit other blogs.  The participants of this study were those who emerged as “conversation leaders” in this digital space.  Hispanics are also more likely than the general population to be creators and/or avid consumers of user-generated content online.

General population influencers have more diversity in the information they choose to share; Hispanic influencers are primarily motivated by their shared cultural ties.  Hispanic influencers predominately share content that is “highly personal” in nature, coming from an individual perspectives and centered around family stories. Promotional (or brand-sponsored content) is also prevalent, a marked difference from the tendency of general population influencers to shy away from brand-sponsored content.

Hispanic influencers feel responsible toward their audience, and their primary reason for creating and sharing content is “to inform and educate their readers about their area of expertise.” This expertise often focuses on topics that help “reconcile the duality of a Hispanic-American’s bicultural lifestyle,” including cuisine, child raising techniques, language, etc.  The report concludes that “understanding the various mindsets of Hispanic influencers will help marketers frame the right approach.”

Hispanic influencers share different content depending on which language they choose to communicate with. Hispanic influencers online who posted content in Spanish only tend to share more promotional and equity content (posts created to engage readers and inspire interactions with content via polls, questions etc.) than those who write in English, and also more than the general population.

Those writing in English tend to include more intimate, personal anecdotes as a way of maintaining a clear connection to their Hispanic cultural roots. These results indicate an opportunity for marketers to “utilize Spanish-language influencers to communicate brand messages in an authentic way,” and to be aware of the difference in content depending on the language used.

This report analyzed the activity of 150 Hispanic digital influencers. To download the full 360i Report on Hispanic Digital Influencers, click here.

Mobile is huge, with m-commerce sales set to quintuple over the next five years and with more users accessing the Internet wirelessly (via mobile) than from a wired Ethernet connection by 2015. Retailers stand out as being more likely to adopt mobile-friendly features; half of the 14 top-rated prestige brands in this study were retail brands.

Two-thirds (66%) of prestige brands maintain a mobile-optimized site, vs. Google’s estimate that only 21% of advertisers have mobile-friendly sites. A respectable 70% of prestige brands have a mobile app.  Slightly over half (52%) have both, while 16% have neither – no mobile app or site.  Iconic brands including Hermes, Bottega Veneta and Marc Jacobs rely exclusively on their traditional site experience, which often may not work well with mobile.

Mobile-friendly sites

Out of the prestige brands that do have a mobile-friendly site, 67% of those sites are m-commerce enabled.  However, many of these mobile-optimized sites are lacking functions present on the main site, including videos, product search and user ratings. And for one-third of these sites, mobile commerce is lacking.

Mobile apps

More than one third – 37% – of the prestige brands studied have a presence on both the iPhone and iPad, but only 16% have created a unique experience for iPad users.  The study classifies this as a missed opportunity, as iPad and other tablet devices “register high usage among affluent customers.”  According to L2, most of these brands have failed to adopt “platform-specific functionality” that keeps the user experience “sticky.” Less than one-third of apps provide integration with the iPhone’s GPS, only 17% include iOS notifications, and only 16% incorporate the phone’s camera.

Optimizing email for mobile

Over three-quarters (78%) of the brands studied engage in email marketing, but only 24% have links to mobile-optimized versions of their email content. More than half – 55% – simply provide links to plain HTML versions.  Brands also aren’t promoting their mobile-friendly content enough within their marketing emails: just 18% of brands with mobile sites have links to their mobile properties and only 19% of the brands with mobile apps include download links for that app.

Geolocation

Only 5% of Americans use geolocation apps at least once a month, but these active users represent a “high-value demographic” according to the report, with higher incomes and a greater willingness to share product information. Just 27 brands in the study maintain an official Foursquare page, five of which had no recent activity.

Being prepared for mobile search

While Google searches from non-computer devices make up only 7% of traffic in the US, 14% of global monthly Google searches for brands in this study originate from mobile devices. The L2 data reveals that few of these brands are customizing their SEO efforts for mobile platforms. When searching via mobile, only 13% of these prestige brands have links to their mobile presence on the first page of Google returns.

Promoting mobile from the main site

While 82% of Prestige 100® brands link to their Facebook pages and 66% link to their Twitter accounts from their main website, only 28% of the brands in this study (that have mobile apps) promote those apps on the brand’s main site. Just three brands maintain custom tabs on Facebook dedicated to mobile properties.

When L2 examined 50 consecutive wall posts on Facebook for each brand, 24 brands linked to mobile apps, 3 linked to their mobile sites, and 9 linked to other mobile properties (Foursquare, Instagram).  A sample of 100 consecutive tweets showed even lower numbers: just 14 brands linked to their app in the iTunes Store, 3 linked to their mobile site, and 12 linked to other mobile properties.

Obviously, many of these prestige brands have a long way to go in getting up to speed with their mobile offerings.  So what makes a brand a winner in the mobile category? Mobile IQ winner Sephora boasts a number of great mobile-friendly features, including:

• a mobile site with: product videos organized by content type and filterable by brand, a GPS-based store locator, shopping list creator, order history/tracking, and mobile-exclusive offers
• an iPhone app with a “Beauty Advice” section, “Try It On” — a tool that allows the user to adjust skin tone and nail polish color on a virtual hand, and barcode scanning functionality to help with in-store shopping
• an iPad app featuring how-to videos with a side-by-side mirror powered by the device’s camera — users can see their own faces while following makeup application instructions

Will brands step up to the plate and ramp up their mobile-friendly options as m-commerce continues to grow? If marketers are paying attention, there’s a clear opportunity for brands in mobile sites, apps, geolocation and search.

Download the full report here: L2 Prestige 100® Mobile IQ report

Please email marissa@modernmediapartners.com if you have additional updates, or a social network that you feel should be on the list.

Google+ Hits 90 Million Users

In yesterday’s press release, Google CEO Larry Page announced “I am super excited about the growth of Android, Gmail, and Google+, which now has 90 million users globally – well over double what I announced just three months ago.”  So Google+ has 90 million registered users – but how many of them are active?

On Google+, Page also posted his earnings remarks for Google: “Engagement on + is also growing tremendously. I have some amazing data to share there for the first time: +users are very engaged with our products — over 60% of them engage daily, and over 80% weekly.”

What exactly does this mean? Liz Gannes at All Things Digital asked Google to clarify: according to Page’s statement, “Over 60 percent of Google+ users use Google products on a daily basis. Over 80 percent of Google+ users use Google products every week.”

However, a post by Vic Gundotra, Google’s head of social, clarified further that these same numbers “refer to Google+ users who “sign in” to use Google products on a daily and weekly basis.” So 60% of Google+ users sign in to use Google products each day, and 80% of Google+ users sign in to use Google products each week.  That could mean that as a Google+ user, you count in these percentages if you sign in via your Gmail account and use Google search at least once a week.

According to All Things D, these numbers may make sense because it’s “not so easy to split out Google+” from other Google products (ex. search, where Google+ results show up), and because “Google envisions Google+ as a binding layer between all its products, rather than a discrete entity.”

Larry Page added: “By building a meaningful relationship with our users through Google+ we will create amazing experiences across our services.”

Back in late December, statistician Paul Allen had estimated that Google+ had 62 million users, and projected that the social network would reach 400 million users by the end of 2012.

What do customers think it means when they “like” a brand on Facebook?

• 49% said they “like” a brand because they are already loyal customers
• 46% want to track news on the brand and products
• 46% are looking for incentives or rewards for engaging with the brand
• 43% are looking for special savings or events
• 30% ‘like’ a brand on Facebook because the content is agreeable

What marketers think a customer’s “like” or engagement with a brand means:

• 57% of marketers thought a “like” meant the content on the site was agreeable
• 41% thought it meant customers wanted to be heard
• 40% thought it meant customers want to track news on the brand or product
• 33% of marketers said they thought customers were looking for incentives or rewards for their “like”
• only 24% of marketers thought that when a consumer “likes” a company that it means they are also a loyal customer

The survey also asked respondents about customer service online.  One-third of respondents (33%) will post on a brand’s Facebook page when they need to communicate with the brand (just 12% will tweet). When connecting with a brand online for customer service issues, 47% (nearly half) of respondents expect a response within 24 hours; 22% expect a response immediately, and 19% expect a response within an hour.

The survey involved 132 senior marketers and more than 1,200 consumers on the subject of social media, and asked each “how and why they are currently using it, what they get out of it, and what they’d like to see it do for them. Click here to see the full study “Variance in the Social Brand Experience“.