Nielsen released its “Asia Pacific Social Media Report” yesterday which described in more detail the social media and WOM trends across the region.
Below is an excerpt from their press release:
Blogs rule in Japan
- Japan Internet users are the most avid bloggers globally, posting over one million blogs per
month, significantly more than any other country. - Japan’s adoption of Twitter continues to grow, with unique visitor numbers having increased
from less than 200,000 to more than 10 million in the year to April 2010. Sixteen percent of
Japanese Internet users now use Twitter, which compares to 10 percent in the US.
Grass roots celebrities attract China’s social networkers
- Bulletin board systems underpin popular social media behaviour in China – over 80 percent
of social media content is bulletin board systems. - Social media games are used as a stimuli to drive new users and gain reach with existing
users, while content sharing behaviours are more popular among the more experienced
users. Virtual product placement within social networking site games is becoming one of the
most profitable methods of revenue for social networking sites, generating between
US$200,000 to US$500,000 per month on product placement. - ‘Grass roots’ celebrity tracking dominates online conversations in China, with grass roots
celebrities such as Phoenix Sister and Mr Yuan outperforming real life celebrities in
popularity. - Chinese Internet users are the most likely in Asia Pacific to post a negative online product
review, and are the only consumers in the region more likely to share negative reviews than
positive reviews – 62% of Chinese Internet users say they are more likely to share a negative
review compared to 41 percent globally.
Facebook threatens Orkut’s share in India
- Twitter has enjoyed exponential growth in popularity in India, with more than half of Twitter
users (57%) having signed up in the past year. Close to one third of India’s social media
users (32%) use microblogging sites such as Twitter at least once a day. - Although 70 percent of social media users in India identify Orkut as their preferred social
media site, Facebook is gaining market share with 50 percent of social media users claiming
to use Facebook most often, compared to 38 percent for Orkut, with the most common
reasons for switching include friends moving sites, preferring the look and feel of the site, and
offering more features. - Online product reviews are increasing their influence on purchases in India, particularly for
consumer electronics – 55 percent of Indians that read online product reviews have
purchased products based on feedback. Consumer durables/electronics are the most
common products purchased based on reviews (64% of purchases).
Koreans a-buzz about social media
- By population, Korea is one of the most social media engaged countries in the world, with the
cuntry’s leading social media site, Naver, attracting 95 percent of the Korean Internet
population every month. - While penetration of social media amongst Korea’s Internet population is already strong, it
continues to grow (Twitter alone saw 1900% growth in the year to May 2009) with much of this growth coming off the back of Korea’s June election and the adoption of mobile social networking.
Australians flock to online forums
- Australia leads the world in social media engagement, with the highest global average for
time spent per month engaging with social media, averaging over seven hours per month - In contrast to many countries, Australians look to communities of interest such as parenting
or sports sites as a key channel for social media discussion – 62 percent of Australian
Internet users visited a message board or forum in 2009. - Linkedin has seen one of the fastest growth trends amongst social media sites in Australia,
with unique audience numbers increasing by 99 percent from July 2009 to May 2010
