First off, let me apologize to you for not publishing this monthly as promised. It was taking me around 15 hours to compile and edit the PDF each month and it was just overwhelming. I'll keep publishing it on a quarterly basis as a blog post moving forward. Thank you for understanding!

As always, I use the data that Facebook provides from their advertising management system. The actual numbers may be larger, but we're marketers and these are the people who can be marketed to.

Key Takeaways:

• The fourth quarter of 2008 saw a 27.55% increase in the total population of Facebook going from 100 million users to 138.6 million. That's a larger increase compared to past months on this report.
• The US is still the largest segment of Facebook at around 42 million users. This is 282% greater than the next closest country (the UK)
• Italy and Romania had over 400% gains on Facebook leading the pack while the US led by total population gain at 9 million new users
• Norway and Canada have the largest percentage of their total populations on Facebook (over 25% each)
• South Africa was the only country to lose population in Q4
• Macedonia and Oman were the only new additions in Q4 2008

Top 25 Countries by total users

Top countries (in order greatest to lowest): US, UK, Canada, Turkey, France, Italy, Australia, Chile, Colombia, Spain, Argentina, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Hong Kong, Norway, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, India, Greece, Finland, South Africa [Click image for larger version]

Top 25 countries by highest % of total population on Facebook

Top countries (in order greatest to lowest): Norway, Canada, Denmark, UK, Chile, Iceland, Australia, Hong Kong, Sweden, Finland, Singapore, Puerto Rico, US, Luxembourg, Maldives, New Zealand, Lebanon, Cyprus, Israel, Malta, UAE, Switzerland, Belgium, The Bahamas, Colombia [Click image for larger version] *Note: This chart uses the total population of each country (not the online population)

Top 25 largest Q4 % gains

Top countries (in order greatest to lowest): Italy, Romania, tunisia, Slovakia, Indonesia, Spain, Argentina, Czech Republic, Uruguay, Bosnia, Slovenia, Serbia, Iceland, Ecuador, Macedonia, Oman, Belgium, France, Turkey, Switzerland, The Bahamas, Austria, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Morocco [Click image for larger version]

Top 25 largest total gains

Top countries (in order greatest to lowest): US, Italy, turkey, France, UK, Spain, Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Australia, Chile, Denmark, Indonesia, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Venezuela, Colombia, Greece, Hong Kong, Serbia, India, Mexico, Finland, Malaysia [Click image for larger version]

Raw country population data for Q4 2008

*Note that Macedonia and Oman are new additions to Facebook for segmenting purposes and don't have Q3 data. Country Q4 2008 Q3 2008 Argentina 2,254,200 936,540 Australia 4,327,920 3,650,260 Austria 258,780 144,800 Bahrain 50,660 42,360 Bangladesh 198,780 135,220 Belgium 1,666,340 833,600 Bolivia 184,920 150,480 Bosnia 198,660 90,720 Brazil 209,100 155,600 Bulgaria 136,980 79,300 Canada 10,851,420 10,025,320 Chile 4,152,060 3,477,540 China 220,620 196,200 Colombia 3,636,320 3,226,980 Costa Rica 73,100 55,080 Croatia 491,240 300,500 Cyprus 109,420 78,660 Czech Republic 176,660 75,900 Denmark 1,778,440 1,174,500 Dominican Republic 115,680 91,800 Ecuador 130,860 105,700 Egypt 821,760 838,480 El Salvador 67,360 51,540 Finland 920,960 656,780 France 6,595,300 3,382,840 Germany 1,255,480 817,620 Ghana 53,880 36,780 Greece 1,000,320 639,340 Guatemala 93,960 76,980 Honduras 54,180 41,660 Hong Kong 1,456,740 1,111,580 Hungary 90,260 63,700 Iceland 120,520 57,700 India 1,072,080 807,040 Indonesia 898,360 321,980 Ireland 401,280 308,100 Israel 895,520 663,240 Italy 5,582,980 1,035,900 Jamaica 64,780 49,560 Japan 213,420 170,080 Jordan 266,700 211,700 Kenya 130,920 105,120 Kuwait 105,160 91,520 Lebanon 414,240 378,580 Lithuania 41,800 29,880 Luxembourg 87,400 49,480 Macedonia 78,180 0 Malaysia 851,240 591,880 Maldives 33,880 31,220 Malta 45,820 36,160 Mauritius 57,060 40,620 Mexico 1,439,580 1,174,600 Morocco 369,660 214,180 Netherlands 351,540 283,700 New Zealand 534,320 433,360 Nicaragua 29,560 23,740 Nigeria 212,780 145,000 Norway 1,455,080 1,315,880 Oman 24,240 0 Pakistan 376,800 286,340 Palestine 69,660 55,660 Panama 236,200 219,760 Paraguay 19,200 11,440 Peru 295,620 208,560 Phiilippines 390,700 233,300 Poland 194,960 113,900 Portugal 84,760 61,860 Puerto Rico 541,640 455,160 Qatar 67,840 54,820 Romania 56,300 10,760 Russia 122,780 94,100 Saudi Arabia 325,860 265,740 Serbia 557,480 266,120 Singapore 740,220 539,660 Slovakia 138,120 46,060 Slovenia 184,120 86,640 South Africa 920,860 1,022,240 South Korea 113,940 86,500 Spain 2,591,640 1,031,780 Sri Lanka 154,780 96,500 Sweden 1,697,100 1,242,240 Switzerland 1,122,900 609,640 Taiwan 112,840 84,780 Thailand 168,840 109,980 The Bahamas 43,900 24,280 Trinidad and Tabago 136,080 94,300 Tunisia 239,600 66,440 Turkey 7,924,640 4,087,640 Ukraine 41,400 26,860 UAE 485,540 358,560 USA 42,017,280 32,923,620 UK 14,922,560 12,662,320 Uraguay 198,160 89,320 Venezuela 1,872,840 1,456,420 Vietnam 39,120 26,580

Does anything surprise you on this? Anything else you would like to know?

If you liked this post, you can subscribe to the Techno//Marketer RSS feed in your reader or sign up to get updates FREE by email.

Technorati Tags: advertising, Facebook, marketing, Matt Dickman, social media, strategy, Techno//Marketer, Twitter

What's fast to build, slow to grow and needs constant attention? No, not a Chia Pet. It's social media! I've given this post a lot of thought over the past couple of months as I talk with executives and marketers who are discussing their entry into the social media space. Some are skeptical, others are passionate. Most have incorrect pre-conceived notions that are contradictory to the way things actually are. Ironically, most of these contradictions have been used as selling points in the early days of the space. So, here we go.

Contradiction 1: Fast setup, slow build

Yes, it is true that you can create a blog in less than five minutes. However, a five minute blog is going to have the same marketing impact as letting an 2-year-old create your brand identity. The physical build of a blog will take months to get right. It needs to be professionally designed or at least customized to look unique.

That, however, is the easiest part of blogging. The real build comes in building your community. It took me around 8 solid months of posting 4-5 days a week to really start making traction. Only around a year and a half in did I start to feel like I was making an impact.

Tip to manage: Look around at people who are successful here. Look at companies like Zappos, Dell or Comcast and see how they use it. Look for other companies in your space and seek out what they are doing. Ask experts, people are very accessible here.

Contradiction 2: Cheap up-front, financial marathon

I think way too many companies think of social media as an inexpensive alternative to pricey paid media options. On the contrary. The physical build/setup/design/etc. is in line with traditional digital implementations (think website/microsite). The real investment comes in the personal time necessary to make an impact. The build is just the tip of the iceberg.

Personally, I estimate that I spend 3-4 hours a day on this blog and within my online space. That's reading, commenting, writing and thinking about digital marketing and social media. That's on top of my workload and travel.

Let's say you have a community evangelist to work your digital marketing as well as social media. There are around 260 work days a year. I am a proponent of companies dedicating AT LEAST 2 HOURS A DAY to do this right. (Obviously, the more time spent the better.) Take agency rates of around $150/hr and that works out to around $78,000/year minimum just to manage the work. More time = more chances for engagement = a better chance for success.

Tip to manage: Look at the people/companies who you admire and ask them how much time they spend. Do your own estimations. Look a the content they're creating and estimate what it took to build. You have to show that this requires a continued commitment from a financial perspective.

Contradiction 3: Open/transparent/mashed-up meets legal and regulatory

While the spirit of social media and participatory marketing is open and extensible, there are real fears that MUST be addressed with the legal team. The best way to do this is to address them head on. Legal teams have been trained to defend brands, stop "unauthorized use" and do it quick. That doesn't fly in this space, it backfires.

Extending marketing and customer service into social media requires the full commitment of the organization at all levels. Everyone needs to be comfortable with the strategy and be kept aware of the execution. If this doesn't happen, it can lead to big trouble.

Tip to manage: There are a ton of examples here. Look at Scrabulous for example. The best idea is to sit down with legal and draw parallels to help them put this in a framework. Can you compare traditional media outreach to blogger outreach? Can you compare your phone reps to your Twitter reps? You can and you should.

Contradiction 4: Creating real estate turns to building on other people's property

Up until social media, digital marketing has been all about creating real estate. Websites, microsites, Flash demos, webinars, virtual offices, etc. Marketing around these spaces required volume to be successful. Email lists were crucial, online ads drove volume and measurement supported these tactics.

Social media is about finding where customers already exist and finding ways to add value within that space. Solving problems, crowdsourcing product and service development, creating cool applications, etc. all add value. Customer service may be the silver bullet in this space. Measurement needs to adapt to your business. Throw out the standards and find what matters to you, then measure it.

Tip to manage: Again Zappos, Dell and Comcast are case studies in the making here. Think about how Nike+ shifted the paradigm of tracking runner's progress and extended it to widgets, Facebook apps, etc. The iPhone is another example where you can add value and get the marketing benefit.

Contradiction 5: Unlimited opportunities to engage, finite places to make real impact

There are literally thousands of places to engage with your customers online. The challenge for brands is to find out where they are, how they move and what they find of value. The other challenge is to dedicate resources to support customers in the places that make sense while limiting waste. Facebook is a great platform to use if you add value to your customers through your marketing. However, if your customers aren't there it's a waste. If you don't see that they shift to a niche network on Ning next month you will continue spending time and begin wasting money.

Listening is key to keeping the pulse of your audience. It lets you see changes in location, sentiment and identify memes that resonate in real time. It lets you be able to pounce and that's key.

Tip to manage: Follow big brands and follow personal brands too. Look at how Chris Brogan engages with his community and grows his business. Look at how Mario Sundar advocates for LinkedIn. Watch Guy Kawasaki extend his business and build new ones (seemingly) on the fly. Watch Jeremiah Owyang redefine what it is to be an analyst while helping to empower an amateur analyst army. See Gary Vaynerchuk kill it every day and inspire everyone he touches like in this video:

What contradictions would you add? Any other examples that people should pay attention to beyond the ones I noted?

If you liked this post, you can subscribe to the Techno//Marketer RSS feed in your reader or sign up to get updates FREE by email.

Technorati Tags: brands, conversations, marketing, Matt Dickman, micromedia, PR, social media, social networks, strategy, trends

Little things are the new big thing, right? Well, in keeping with that notion, I wanted to share a couple of little tips on online identity. Whether you're a blogger or a corporation, these two items go a long way. One is very old school and the other is as new as new can be.

New school: apple-touch-icon.png

This one I found out when my lovely, amazing wife bought me an iPhone for Christmas. Thanks dear!! Through the iPhone you can add a blog/site to your menu just like an application. If you do this without following the next steps, however you get a very generic, non-identifiable icon. It looks something like this:

Not impressive, not readily identifiable. After a bit of digging, however I learned how to add an icon to replace the generic default. To do this you'll need to create a PNG file that is 158x158 pixels. Here is the one I created:

Now, rename that file to apple-touch-icon.png and upload it to the root directory on your website (meaning it will be at http://www.yourdomain.com/apple-touch-icon.png). The iPhone/iTouch does the rest. It resizes and rounds the corners and adds that shiny love to the image.

UPDATE: Here is a quick video overview of how this one works.

[Click through to the post if you cannot see the video.]

Old school: favicon.ico

Depending on how geeky you are, you may or may not know this little file. The favicon.ico controls the tiny logo/headshot that appears in the address bar for a site when you visit (see below). It's a small differentiator, but that's okay.

To create this file head over to this site. From here you can create one from scratch or upload an existing image. Keep in mind the output is around 15 pixels square so make sure you use something simple. Once you have the file, you need to upload it to the root directory for your site. (Ping me if you need more info on this one.)

Shows up in the address bar in your browser

Shows up in tabs when you have them open

Shows up in your bookmarks to help them stand out

These are both easy tactics to implement can make a big difference in user experience and usefulness. Feel free to add Techno//Marketer on your iPhone and let me know your thoughts.

If you liked this post, you can subscribe to the Techno//Marketer RSS feed in your reader or sign up to get updates FREE by email.

Technorati Tags:
branding, marketing, Matt Dickman, micromedia, Techno//Marketer, web2.0, microbranding

What does the real population of Facebook look like? How does it compare to MySpace? This is the latest edition of my look at social networks and their populations from a marketing perspective.

All numbers in this post are US-only and are collected using each site's advertising management systems so they are up to date and accurate from a marketer's perspective. (Who wants to talk about populations that can't be reached by marketing? Not me.)

What you need to know right now:

• MySpace's total population is down 4% in the US
• Facebook now for the first time has more people ages 36-45 than MySpace, soon will overtake 46-50 as well as 31-35
• Facebook's over 30 growth is still booming at around 24% per category
• Facebook's under 30 growth was stagnant
• MySpace still dominant in HS and college age groups

Facebook Overview:

Facebookhad fairly consistent gains across most age groups, however for the first time I see slowdowns in the under 35 population. Surprises include:

• Less than 2% growth in the 18-21 and 22-25 year old groups (down from approx. 22% gains over past 4 months)
• 13-17 year old growth is under 8% and the 26-30 year old group gained just over 11%
• Facebook is 56.89% female and 43.11% male

MySpace Overview:

There were some surprising shifts in the population of MySpace this month. Of note:

• Overall, the US population on MySpace dropped by 4.16%
• 26.87% drop in the 36-40 age group from November's numbers
• 32.93% drop in the 41-45 age group from November's numbers
• 40.65% drop in the 46-65+ age group from November's numbers
• MySpace is 52.71% female and 47.29% male

MySpace down 4%; Facebook under 30 stagnant; Facebook finally overtakes MySpace in 36-45 populations

January's look at the real age of MySpace vs. Facebook (US)

Click to enlarge image.

Here are the actual December-January numbers:

AGE RANGE Facebook Δ last month MySpace Δ last month overall variance 13-17 5,593,200 +7.21% 17,072,104 -2.94% 305% 18-21 10,802,300 +1.24% 20,326,180 +1.89% 188% 22-25 7,703,340 +1.87% 13,029,345 +3.32% 169% 26-30 5,966,040 +11.19% 10,528,581 -5.70% 176% 31-35 4,123,740 +18.27% 4,958,016 -15.37% 120% 36-40 3,055,720 +23.90% 2,843,813 -26.87% 93% 41-45 1,580,460 +26.74% 1,577,310 -32.93% 100% 46-50 963,900 +23.88% 981,911 -40.65% 102% 51-65+ 1,416,820 +23.41% 7,030,912 -7.51% 697%

Other key takeaways and burning questions:

• 
  
• These numbers represent all total users who can be reached through each site's advertising systems (not all active users)
  
• I'm continually interested in the Boomer audiences on these sites and how they engage
  
• MySpace's reporting system has been on the fritz, we'll have to see next month's numbers to get a real sense of the space
  
• MySpace skews younger than Facebook, engaging more of the highschool population
  
• Will need to look at Facebook under 30 numbers next month to see if the growth remains slow
  

What do you think? What other networks are you investigating? The demographics and targeting options on both sites let you reach your audience in targeted/tailored ways.

UPDATE: Data sources: If you're curious, here is where the data comes from on both sites.

• 
  
• Facebook - Go here http://www.facebook.com/ads/create and edit the audience settings as you wish. No need to even create an ad.
  
• MySpace - Go here https://advertise.myspace.com and then click "Click here to get started". Enter a test ad. Then you can filter by age/gender/geo/etc.
  

If you liked this post, you can subscribe to the Techno//Marketer RSS feed in your reader or sign up to get updates FREE by email.

Technorati Tags: advertising, Facebook, LinkedIn, marketing, Matt Dickman, social media, strategy, Techno//Marketer, Twitter