Social Media Sharing Trends 2010
SocialTwist's Social Media Sharing Trends 2010 Report is based on the social media sharing analysis of millions of referral messages sent using the Tell-a-Friend widget during the period Aug-2009 to July 2010.
Top line observations
Breakdown by referrals
Email still continues to rule though it lost 15% from last year
Strong shift in sharing from Email/IM towards Social networks. Though there has been a marginal decrease of 4% in its share from last year, email still accounts for an impressive 55% chunk of the shares made.
Breakdown by CTR
Social has a distinct lead in generating click throughs, followed by Email.
Social Networking sites saw a significant increase of over 10% in their usage. All services within Social seem to be holding up their positions compared to last year. Facebook clearly stands as the most preferred service for sharing among social networks. Social Networking sites account for over 60% of the click-thoughs, a bump up of over 16% from last year.
- Google has strengthened its position on the Email and IM front. However, Social is still Google's weakness.
- Gmail has replaced Yahoo as the most preferred email service for sharing.
- Yahoo Messenger is still most the preferred instant messaging service followed by GTalk and MSN Messenger.
- MSN services are taking a beating. Usage of MSN messenger has dropped from 34% in 2008-2009 to 3% in 2009-2010 while MSN email usage has dropped from 25% to 18%.
- Google has strengthened its position on the Email and IM front. However, Social is still Google's weakness.
- Gmail has replaced Yahoo as the most preferred email service for sharing.
- ahoo Messenger is still most the preferred instant messaging service followed by GTalk and MSN Messenger.
- MSN services are taking a beating. Usage of MSN messenger has dropped from 34% in 2008-2009 to 3% in 2009-2010 while MSN email usage has dropped from 25% to 18%.
Social Networks
Breakdown by Referrals
- Facebook, which accounts for over 78% usage this year, clearly maintains its position as the first choice of users when it comes to sharing in Social Networking space.
- MySpace and Twitter occupy the next two positions with a share percent of 14.5% and 5% respectively.
- Google owned Orkut, which made its debut recently in the sharing arena, saw a modest usage of 2%.
Facebook & Twitter CTR
- Social Media channels have a very high click through rate.
- Facebook has a click through rate of 287%.
- Microblogs have a staggering click through rate.
- Twitter's click through rate is 1904%.
Email
- Gmail took the lead in 'email sharing' from Yahoo, comprising 37% of the market, an 18% increase from last year.
- Yahoo Mail is closely followed with 26% compared to 44% last year.
- MSN Mail lost 7% to reach the third spot from last year's second.
Instant Messenger
- Yahoo Messenger saw an upsurge of over 22% in its use since last year.
- GTalk also registered an increase of its usage from 15% in 2008-2009 to 25%.
- MSN lost a huge chunk of its share. From accounting for over one-third of the shares in 2008-2009, this year its share has been a dismal 3%.
Bookmarks
- There isn't much change in the distribution of Bookmark providers for sharing. Some smaller players chipped off some part of the share from the bigger ones.
- Accounting for over 43% usage, Digg tops the class and is followed next by Google and Delicious.
Blogs
- Wordpress has further consolidated its number one position by accounting more than half of the shares made via blogs.
- Google owned Blogger stands close in the second position with 42% usage.
