Social Network Users Statistics India 2013 till 2017 – Maturing growth next five years

According to a new eMarketer report, “Worldwide Social Network Users: 2013 Forecast and Comparative Estimates,” the number of social network users in India is expected to cross 100 million users and reach more than 127 million users by end of 2013. The total numbers of social media users will more than double and reach close to 283 million users by 2017. But the interesting fact is that the number of users has already started to see slower growth from 2013 and the decline in the YoY growth is expected to continue which also highlights the maturing numbers for the social networks in India which is also a global trend. There has been a strong social media adoption in India since past few years as the business organizations, government organizations and even political parties are actively utilizing the various social media platforms and social network sites to reach the people. 75% of Indians who are active internet users use social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest etc. and interaction with friends, relatives, colleagues and community, live chat, status updates, image- as well as video-sharing are some of the major activities by Indians that spend close to 30 minutes every day online on the different social networks.

According to Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the number of social media users in Urban India reached 66 million by June 2013 and by mid-2014 expected to cross 80 million users. Some 97 per cent of them are on Facebook. And they are spread beyond the big metros. One-third of social media users live in towns with a population of less than 5 million; 25 per cent of the total users live in towns with less than 2 million inhabitants. Social media usage is also fast catching up with mobile internet users. According to the report, 77 percent of the users use mobile for social media. Email, social media, search, app store and chat / IM are used every day by those accessing internet through mobile. Facebook has 78 million monthly active users (MAUs) in India for the quarter ending March 31, 2013, registering a 50% increase from the Q1 2012. LinkedIn has 20 million users, Twitter has 33 million users, Pinterest has 5.5 million users in India at the end of March 2013. Indians are very active on different social networks and are also actively increasing the amount of time they spend on the various social networking sites.

Worldwide Social network Users 2013- Growth declining constantly every year till 2017

According to a new eMarketer report, “Worldwide Social Network Users: 2013 Forecast and Comparative Estimates,” nearly one in four people worldwide will use social networks in 2013. The number of social network users worldwide will rise from 1.47 billion in 2012 to 1.73 billion in 2013, an 18% increase year on year (YoY) and by 2017, and the number of users globally will total 2.55 billion. Growth rates (YoY) are coming down with the growth declining by 5% in 2014 compared to 2013 and by 2% every year till 2017 which signifies maturity in the number of users in developed markets like US, UK, etc. where the population is smaller and population growth rate is also slower compared to emerging countries like India, China, Brazil, etc. Even in the other regions like Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East Africa that are presently growth drivers for social network user growth will also see fall in growth starting this year.

The number of social network users is directly linked to the telecommunication and internet penetration levels particularly in emerging countries. It also depends on literacy levels, population growth rates and relevant government spending in upgrading telecom and internet infrastructure like broadband. Key players in this segment are Facebook, Google+, Twitter, YouTube, etc. have been there for years and dominate the market in terms of number of users. Many new social networking sites have emerged in the recent years but failed to build up the numbers as big as Facebook but they are also picking up slowly. The amount of services and number of applications on the various social network sites have also increased drastically and most of the business organizations across the globe be it large, medium and small in size have significantly improved their social media presence and are spending billions of dollars on the social platforms for selling and promoting their products and services.

eMarketer has increased our 2013 forecast for total social network users worldwide by 100 million since our August 2012 forecast. This upward adjustment is based on new data that indicates higher-than-expected totals for internet users in India, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Russia and the Middle East and Africa; new data showing higher estimates for UK social network users than previously forecast; and a new breakout of social network users in the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Sweden. Accessing of the social networks is done majorly by personal computers like desktops, laptops and mobile devices like tablets and mobile phones not only smart phones but also the mid-range and low range phones. Mobile manufacturers like Samsung, Nokia, LG, etc. have also selling mobile phones at low price and mid-price levels that are preloaded with social network applications like Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Businesses and Governments across the globe are also encouraging people to log into social networking sites as they are providing the necessary information related to products and services, performance and reviews, customer feedbacks and are also providing the customers to use the social network sites to complain about the poor quality of product services and actively express their dissatisfaction. Politicians are also using the social network platforms to interact with voters and citizens. There has been a significant change in the way the social networking sites are used by users as they are not only sharing their personal information about their personal life with friends, relatives and colleagues, they are also actively using to interact with business organization of whom they may or may not be customers but they are voicing their opinion sometimes critically about the businesses and governments. The recent Arab Spring where in people in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Bahrain, etc. had voiced their opinions against their respective regimes and which led to the down fall of the dictatorial regimes and blossoming of democracy. Some governments are even looking to curtail the social networking sites usage by their citizens but are failing to do so effectively. Overall the number of social network users worldwide will keep growing at a slower pace in the next five years.

There is a discussion going on in regards to the slowing down of the social network users particularly the active users, users who login every day into the social networking sites and spend considerable amount of time on these sites. This is due to the social media fatigue where in some users are simply tired of using the social networking sites extensively, got bored of it and complain that the social networking sites are not improving their services and are not offering unique applications like games and content that keep the users engage and retain them. Social media fatigue is also a growing concern for the social networking sites and they need to develop strategies to overcome them. Even the changes in the government regulations and legislations in related to data privacy, confidentiality, protection, online behavior and also related to criminal and other antisocial activities on the various social networking sites. Many laws are being passed and amended particularly in emerging countries is also a big concern. Overall the social networking sites have a unique challenge in the coming five years where in they have to make sure users remain active on their sites and new users also join the sites and retain the existing users without which they will perish as the social network sites success is directly related to number of users.

Social Media in India 2012 – User Base & engagement expected to increase

Similar to the global phenomenon Social media in India is driven by young and educated in the cities and towns across India and 2011 saw a tremendous rise in the number of users and their activity in terms of time spent, engagement levels and quality on various social networking sites. According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India there has been rapid rise in the number of internet users in India and has reached 121 million users in 2011. Broadband too has seen significant growth in 2011with 13.30 million users (22% YoY) compared to 10.92 million users in 2010 and is expected to reach 15.9 million users by end of 2012. 80% of the internet users are urban users and 20% are rural users in India and educated young people and professionals across industry verticals like IT, BFSI, Retail, Automobile, Pharma, etc are driving the social networking sites usage in India. Indians migrate to United States (US) for education and jobs and most of them will be in constant touch with friends in India which led to the rise in usage of social networks and it was even more increased as US companies set up offices in India employing thousands of people here, Indians using more technology products like mobiles, laptops, other computing devices like PCs, tablets and finally the voyeuristic appeal with open networks drove the usage further.

Most popular social networking site in India is Facebook as recently it has dethroned Indonesia from the number 2 slot with 46 million monthly active users in February 2012 on the site, an increase of 132% from the prior year. 75% of Facebook users in India are male and metro cities dominate the usage in India. Google+ has a total user base of 12.3 million in India with 86% of the users being male and dominated by students and young professionals. Twitter has a total user base of more than 14 million in India and is the sixth largest country in terms of accounts and the micro blogging in India has not risen in India when compared to other social networking sites as Indians are not comfortable with a 140 character limit. LinkedIn the professional networking site has more than 14million user base in India and is one of the rapidly growing social networks in India.  Orkut was the initial dominant social networking site in India until Facebook entry and it has around 18 million user base in India but the network which was acquired by Google is fading into oblivion as Google is more focused on Google+. Indian social networking sites too have significant user base in India and Ibibo has around 12 million users base and BharatStudent has around 7 million users base.

Urban cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad and other tier 1and 2 cities and towns dominate the social networking usage in India. 75% is dominated by male and mostly the young students and professionals in the age group of 18-24 are dominating the social media usage followed by the 25-34 age group. They spend hours every month on the various social networking sites and actively engage with friends and others. Most of the users are using social media to stay in touch with friends, track and update their activities, social gaming, follow groups and communities, discuss social, political cultural and entertainment topics and also look for information about brands, products and also provide their feedback. People are actively voicing their opinions on the social networks as was evident during the Jan Lokpal movement by Anna Hazare and his team in 2011 and the movement was supported by people actively through the various social networks. Accessing and using the social networking sites through mobiles is also on the rise as most of the cell phone manufacturers selling in India are selling handsets that are easy to use for social networking and are having inbuilt social networking applications of the popular social networks at low prices.

There has been rapid rise in the number of ecommerce portals in India and also businesses selling their products and services online. Most of these businesses are actively engaging their consumers on the various social networks through games, contest, and other content. Telecommunications services providers like Tata Docomo, Airtel, Vodafone, Mobile handsets makers like Samsung, LG, Nokia, HTC, Automobile manufacturers like Ford, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Volkswagen, ecommerce sites like Flipkart, sports goods manufacturers like Nike, Adidas, beverages like Bacardi, Pepsi, Coke and consumer products like Nestle Maggi, etc are all very active in India and many Indian users are actively engaging with these brands and companies. Content focused at Indian users both by businesses and individuals is being created and Indian users of the various social networking sites like the content and making the content viral like the recent song Kolaveri Di. Most of the celebrities belonging to the cinema world, sports personalities, politicians, artists, business leaders and activists are all actively engaging and participating in the various social networking sites. Indian Users are also actively engaging in the global issues and events on the social networking sites and voicing their opinions.

There also have been some issues with social networking sites in India and the government had issued notices to all the major players in the country in relation to the derogatory content and content that is hurting the feelings of certain sections of the people. The government has instructed the social networking companies to sensor such content and remove it immediately failing which strict penalties and legal actions will be taken against the companies responsible. The rapid rise in the social media usage in the recent years has forced the government for regulating the usage and the policy was framed last year in this regards. There were protests against too much regulation by the government as the users were concerned about their right to express themselves freely but due to certain incidents over the various social networks that hurt the sentiments and feelings of people government were forced to act and frame the policy.

With increasing penetration of the internet and improvement in the technology infrastructure in India, the social media usage in India is expected to increase and this will be even pushed further with significant rise in the sales of the mobiles, laptops, tablets and other computing devices in India. With availability of more information about brands, companies, issues, hobbies, interest etc and increase in presence of companies, governments, politicians, celebrities etc the social media usage across all the age groups is also expected to increase in near future. There is also significant push from the social networking companies and social gaming companies focusing on the Indian User base will also see growth in user base. These companies are localizing the content, providing language supports in local languages and also improving the underlying technologies so that the users can use these sites easily. Privacy issues in terms of individual privacy, personal data security, government and regulatory policy issues in terms of content and the issue of targeting the ads based on personal sensitive information are the significant negative factors that may hamper the growth in near future. 2012 will be interesting and exciting year for social media in India.

Social Media & Business Organizations 2011 – Emerging Markets leading Adoption

According to a report from KPMG International, more than 70% of organizations across the globe are active on social media and businesses in the emerging markets are leading in social media adoption compared to mature markets due to fall in cost of internet and devices. Social media is being used by business organizations for customer relationship management, engaging employees and other stakeholders in the organization innovation process for developing new product and services and improving the existing ones. Businesses too have realized that there are risks associated with social media engagement and are looking for ways to reduce the risk and use social media to improve their brand image and organization reputation. Organizations are also training employees about social media usage and are told to strictly adhere to the specific social media policies and rules formulated by the respective companies which also help them to reduce the risks associated with social media engagement. The policy should be clearly communicated to all the stakeholders and without a clear social media engagement policy it will be disastrous for the business organizations.

4,000 employees including 1800 managers in major markets gave their feedback and the research found that organizations are still underestimating the benefits of social media but 80% of businesses with an active social media program said they had seen and measured the benefits of social media engagement. Businesses are using analytical software to monitor their social media presence and are also trying to measure the ROI in the social media engagements. Job satisfaction of the employees has been better in organizations with open policies on social media as they feel motivated and valued for their engagement and they voice their opinions freely through the social media channels and there is no point in restricting employees to access social media as they will find ways to go around the firewalls and still use them. Moreover employees are bringing their own devices like the smartphones and mobile phones with internet access to the workplace and companies have no control over them. Employees don’t know that organizations are monitoring their social media activities and face severe consequences of loosing their jobs for wrongly using the social media platforms. KPMG suggests businesses and organizations to actively listen to the opinions and feedback on various social media platforms and accordingly engage and develop their social media strategy.

Social Media 2011 and Future Growth – Summary of Gartner Research

Worldwide social media revenue is on track to reach $10.3 billion in 2011, a 41.4 percent increase from 2010 revenue of $7.3 billion, according to Gartner, Inc. and social media revenue is forecast for consistent growth with 2012 revenue totaling $14.9 billion, and the market is projected to reach $29.1 billion in 2015. Social media advertising revenue is forecast to total $5.5 billion in 2011, and grow to $8.2 billion in 2012. Advertising revenue includes display advertising and digital video commercials on any device including PCs, mobile and media tablets. Social gaming revenue is on pace to reach $3.2 billion in 2011 and grow to $4.5 billion in 2012. Social gaming includes revenue that social networking sites earn directly from users who play games that are developed in-house, and the revenue earned by allowing game developers/publishers to use their sites as a platform to let users play with friends on the network. It includes revenue earned from "virtual wallets" within games (such as when users spend virtual money on in-game items like swords or tanks, or to create virtual armies).

Social media subscription revenue is forecast to reach $236 million in 2011 and total $313 million in 2012. Few social sites charge subscription revenue, mostly for premium services. Some professional sites such as LinkedIn, Xing in Germany and Vladeo in France, charge a subscription fee from their users for enhanced services, such as an expanded profile view. The worldwide social customer relationship management (CRM) market is forecast to reach over $1 billion in revenue by year-end 2012, up from approximately $625 million in 2010, according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide social CRM is projected to total $820 million in 2011.

By 2015, companies will generate 50 percent of Web sales via their social presence and mobile applications, according to Gartner, Inc. Vendors in the e-commerce market will begin to offer new context-aware, mobile-based application capabilities that can be accessed via a browser or installed as an application on a phone. Gartner predicts that by 2013, 80 percent of North American and European online sellers will expand into Brazil, Russia, India, Africa, Japan or China. Organizations based in North America and Western Europe is already launching website-based sales operations in new countries, in the hope of expanding to new markets.

There are signs of maturity in the social media market, as some users in certain segments are showing “social media fatigue”, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc. Gartner surveyed 6,295 respondents, between the ages of 13 and 74, in 11 developed and developing markets in December 2010 and January 2011. Of the respondents, 24 percent said they use their favorite social media site less than when they first signed up. These respondents tended to be in segments that have a more practical view of technology. But 37 percent of respondents, particularly those in younger age groups and more tech-savvy segments, said they were using their favorite site more. 33 percent said they were concerned about online privacy. Attitudes to privacy were also age-related; with teenagers citing privacy concerns significantly less often than older respondents (22 percent of teenagers agreed or strongly agreed that privacy concerns were decreasing their enthusiasm, against an average of 33 percent).

From a geographical point of view, some of the more mature social media markets — Japan, the UK and the US — corresponded to the global average trend — with roughly 40 percent of respondents using the site more than when they first started, 40 percent using it the same amount, and 20 percent using it less. Markets where enthusiasm was higher included South Korea and Italy, where nearly 50 percent of respondents said they used their social media sites more. At the other end of the spectrum, countries with the most respondents saying they used the site less included Brazil and Russia — both with between 30 and 40 percent of respondents exhibiting less enthusiasm.

During the next two years, 30 percent of leading companies will extend the goals of their online community activities to the design of enhanced service processes, such as social CRM, according to Gartner, Inc. Social CRM for customer service has only recently entered into the realm of contact center infrastructure and customer service software components, where it has been met with significant hype despite a limited number of field deployments," said Drew Kraus, research vice president at Gartner. "In 2010, only 5 percent of organizations took advantage of social/collaborative customer action to improve service processes; however, customer demand and heightened business awareness is making this a top issue among customer service managers," Mr. Kraus said. "At current trajectories, within five years we expect that community peer-to-peer support projects will supplement or replace Tier 1 contact center support in more than 40 percent of top 1,000 companies with a contact center."

Many social media efforts are failing, because some enterprises just don't understand how to employ social media to facilitate collective behaviors, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner conducted a 10 month effort collecting data and analyzing 200 successful social media implementations to identify how enabling collective human behaviors can lead to enterprise value. Enterprises that understand the importance of harnessing the power of collective behaviors to drive positive business change will be the ultimate winners with social media," concluded Anthony Bradley, group vice president at Gartner. Gartner believes that examining key selected behaviors provides critical insight into how social media can deliver significant enterprise value. The six collective behaviors include: Enable Collective Intelligence for Operational Effectiveness, Employ Expertise Location for Sales Effectiveness, Unearth Emergent Structures for Operational Effectiveness, Increase Sales through Interest Cultivation, and Engage in Mass Coordination for Rapid Response, Build Relationship Leverage for Brand Awareness.

Source: Gartner 2011 Press releases