The social media networks emerged as a powerful resource for search engine optimisation campaigns in 2009. The SEO world may be talking a lot about the benefits of social media optimisation and marketing, but a smart business needs to know the cold, hard facts. The statistics for social media at the end of 2009 indicate that social media is a growing force that is only likely to get more powerful.

Social media participation was by no means unusual before 2009, but last year was something of a boom year for most social media networks. One thing that 2009 revealed was that internet users are increasingly relying on social media networks to communicate with friends, family and even business colleagues. This is a shift from the traditional methods of email, phone and real-world contact.

This shift is perhaps disturbing to social commentators, but when it comes to online business it’s a strong hint towards a successful online approach. What the statistics show, for the average business, is that social media sites cannot be ignored.

Social media’s increased hold

In 2009, analytical company Nielsen Online found that social media networking was the fourth most popular occupation on the internet globally. In the early part of the year, social media networking took up 10 per cent of the time spent on the internet as a whole. Considering the range of activities possible on the net, this is a significant chunk.

Nielsen Online also found that internet users spent more time social media networking than in reading their personal email. This finding is significant for any company that uses email marketing as part of their online approach. It’s also an indication that getting users to subscribe to newsletters is going to have less of an effect in the future, as email loses its importance for the average internet user.

Most popular sites

Knowing the most popular social media sites is essential if you’re planning a social media campaign. You can discuss your options with our experts at SEO Consult.

• Facebook versus MySpace: MySpace was officially trumped by Facebook when it came to global statistics. Facebook is developing such a stronghold over social networking that its English-based site is outperforming foreign language social sites in their own countries. It’s important to note that MySpace is still more popular in the US
• YouTube: This site remains the king of video, with hundreds of millions of visits each month
• Social bookmarking: StumbleUpon crept up on Digg over 2009, but the latter still reigns. The changes in the social bookmarking industry are worth keeping an eye on, particularly if you want a part of the excellent traffic the industry sends
• Twitter: The micro-blogging site had a growth rate of over 1000% between 2008 and 2009. Its growth has slowed only slightly, but it’s still growing

How this affects you

Even if you’re not participating in the social media, the trends suggested by the social media activity of 2009 can shape some of your online campaign. Social media optimisation on your pages is definitely worth considering as part of your coherent search engine optimisation campaign.

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