SOCIALMEDIASTUDIES 2016

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTINUES TO THRIVE

FIGURE 1

THE NUMBER OF ACCOUNTS IN SELECTED SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AT THE GLOBAL LEVEL

The social era is all about connecting people, ideas and things. The ubiquity of the internet and mobile devices is indisputable, and today it is di cult to imagine a world without instant messaging, online-based communi- cations and virtual interactions. Social media is playing an important role in this terrain and it is a global phenomenon growing at a very fast pace in all countries regardless of economic, social and cultural develop- ment. The total number of active social media users now exceeds 2.3 billion, representing over 30% of the global population.

NUMBER OF FACEBOOK MONTHLY ACTIVE ACCOUNTS 2010 - 2015

1.600 1.800 1.400 1.200 1.000

1.591

15%

1.393

1.228

1.6 BN ACCOUNTS IN 2015

1.056

845

800 600 400 200

608

0

CAGR 6

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

NUMBER OF TWITTER MONTHLY ACTIVE ACCOUNTS 2010 - 2015

350

305

35%

200 150 100 50 300 250

288

305 MN ACCOUNTS IN 2015

241

185

117

90

0

CAGR 6

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Source: Companies' websites

14