Erik Qualman is a leading speaker on the use of social media, providing statistics and clear evidence of the phenomenal growth of social media. He is author of two excellent books which have gone on to be translated into many languages.
- Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business
- Digital Leader: 5 simple keys to success and influence
The Social Media Revolution
In addition to being a writer Erik Qualman is a highly respected and inspirational International Speaker on Digital Leadership, Social Media, Digital Trends and Digital Motivation. He is also an MBA Professor at the Hult International Business School. However he is possibly most well known for his ground breaking video Social Media Revolution which went viral on YouTube in 2010. Below is the recently updated version and is an excellent way to visualise the growth of social media.
Social Media Statistics 2013 from Video
(Note: As listed on Erik’s blog: http://www.socialnomics.net/2012/11/07/social-media-video-2013/)
- Over 1 billion users on Facebook
- If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 3rd largest and 2x the size of the U.S. population
- Over 50% of the world’s population is under 30-years-old
- Each day 20% of Google searches have never been searched before
- In 10 years over 40% of the Fortune 500 will no longer be here
- Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web
- 1 in 5 couples meet online; 3 in 5 gay couples meet online
- 1 in 5 divorces are blamed on Facebook
- What happens in Vegas stays on YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook…
- Ford Explorer launch on Facebook more effective than a Super Bowl Ad
- 69 percent of parents said they are currently “friends” with their children on a social media site
- 92% of children in the US have a digital footprint/shadow
- Every second 2 new members join LinkedIn
- More members join LinkedIn per day than the entire enrollment of all the IVY League Schools
- Social Gamers to buy 6 billion in virtual goods by 2013; movie goers only buy 2.5 million in concessions
- Every minute 72 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube
- If Wikipedia were made into a book it would be 2.25 million pages long
- 97% of Pinterest Facebook Fans are Women
- 53% of people on Twitter recommend products in their Tweets
- 90% of people trust online recommendations from people they know
- Only 14% trust traditional TV advertisements
- New Yorkers received tweets about an east coast earthquake 30 seconds before they felt it
- 93% of marketers use social media for business
- Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of Germany, Turkey, South Africa, Canada, Argentina, United Kingdom, Egypt
- “We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it.” – Erik Qualman
- “We will non longer search for products and services, they will find us via social media.” – Erik Qualman
- “Social Media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.” – Erik Qualman
- “The ROI of social media is that your business will still exist in 5 years.” – Erik Qualman
You can find Erik on Twitter under @equalman and on his Socialnomics blog http://www.socialnomics.net/
Sue Beckingham
Social Media for Learning 
Thanks for this update! I use Qualman’s video as an introduction in my basic Social Media Training, so now I can update the course 🙂 Glad to see he added Pinterest in it!
I also likes his quote: “We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it.”. This always opens the discussion about pros, cons, how will we integrate it in the services we deliver, do we want the integrate it, what about privacy, etc. Sometimes heavy discussions, but it’s always an eye-opener 😀
“We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it.”.
I agree and this is why it is so important we help people see the impact our digital footprint can have, both in a positive but also a negative way.
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