Post submitted by Reanna Mortensen -
There is a major difference in international social network use from 2008 to 2011. The biggest difference is the world domination of Facebook over other social media sites in 2011. In the top map, it shows that MySpace dominated the United States as a social media website, Hi-5 was the biggest site in Mexico, Orkut and Hi-5 were popular in South America, Europe had many different sites depending on the country, and Africa had a variety of social network systems. In 2011, almost the entire globe turned to Facebook as its main social medium. In fact, there are only three other colors visible on the 2011 map.
I think it’s unreal how fast Facebook spread across the world in just three years. This brings up the question, what does Facebook offer that other social networks do not? Perhaps Facebook is better advertised than other social media websites, or maybe the concept and functions it offers are just really well designed. Either way, Facebook is the powerhouse of social networks internationally.
BJB - This also illustrates the concept of network economy - that for many networks, the value of the network to users, as a means to interact with others, increases as the number of users (or possible connections increase. As Facebook gained ground, its value as a social medium increased, enticing more to join or switch from other options. Source -
World Map Showing the Popularity of Social Networks, Oxyweb.co.uk blog
