The Growth of Social Media is considered one of the most amazing developments of the 21st Century, if not the most incredible one. Consider that in 2004, just eight years ago, there was no Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blip.tv, or any of the social media platforms we use today, and blogs were just becoming known – Michael Arrington would not establish TechCrunch until the next year, 2005.
Since then, Social Media has given us a giant social mirror that, for the first time, allows us to evaluate events in our society and via exchange of views immediately, render an overall opinion that can change entire nations – witness the Arab Spring.
The infographic below presents a great, encapsulated view of how social media has grown. It has a number of interesting factoids. For example, the growth in percentage of social media users over 65 has zoomed from just over 5 percent in 2005, to about one-quarter of the total population. One-in-four surveyed regularly watch YouTube. 13 percent have said that a potential employer made discriminatory comments on Facebook (!). The fastest growing segment of Facebook users are in college. 49 percent of Twitter users never regularly check Twitter.
And there’s a lot more. Here’s the infographic…
Source: The Growth of Social Media: An Infographic
Source: Search Engine Journal.