The Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project has released its latest survey on social-network use across 21 countries, and the finding worth paying attention to is that social-network adoption is rising fastest in low- and middle-income nations. The number of social media users in the largest emerging markets — India, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, Egypt, Nigeria — is growing on a different curve than what the U.S. and Western European markets have already produced.
The implications for the consumer internet, brand marketing, and the global communications industry are substantial. The next billion social media users will not look like the first billion. The brands that internalize this are positioning themselves for a market the major U.S. and European competitors are still under-investing in.
The Pew baseline
The survey covers 21 countries and shows social network use ranging from above 70% of internet users in Russia, Israel, and Britain at the high end, down to lower-double-digit percentages in markets where internet penetration itself is still building. Among internet users, Facebook is the dominant platform in most surveyed markets, with Twitter as the secondary platform in many.
The growth trajectory is the more interesting data. Adoption is accelerating fastest in middle- and lower-income countries — places where the combination of falling smartphone prices, expanding mobile data networks, and falling data costs is bringing new users online for the first time. Many of these new users are starting their internet experience on social platforms rather than email or web browsing.
Why this matters
Three implications.
The user base is shifting east and south. The largest national markets for Facebook by 2015 or 2016 will likely be in Asia rather than North America. India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Brazil are growing fast enough that they will reshape the platform's user demographics within a few years.
Mobile-first is the default. Most new social media users in emerging markets are coming online on mobile devices, often skipping fixed-line internet entirely. The product experience, advertising formats, and content norms that develop for these audiences will be mobile-native in ways the early Facebook and Twitter experiences were not.
Vernacular language matters more than English. The next billion users will not be English-default. Platforms that support local languages well will perform differently in emerging markets than platforms that treat English as the default and other languages as a feature.
What this means for brands
Brands operating globally need to think about social media presence in emerging markets differently from the way they think about it in established Western markets. Three considerations.
First, the platforms that matter are not necessarily the same. WhatsApp is more important than Facebook Messenger in many emerging markets. Local platforms — Orkut in Brazil, VK in Russia, Renren in China — have meaningful share in specific countries.
Second, the content norms differ. What works on Facebook in the U.S. does not necessarily translate. Local cultural references, local languages, and local content formats produce better engagement than syndicated global content.
Third, the buying power follows the user growth, but on a delay. Brands investing in emerging markets now are building audiences that will become commercially meaningful as those markets' middle classes expand. The investment requires patience.
The longer arc
The Pew finding fits into a broader pattern of how the internet is developing globally. The early consumer internet was disproportionately Western — built by U.S. and European companies, shaped by Western cultural assumptions, dominated by English-language content. The next phase of the consumer internet will be much more global, with more user activity outside the West than inside it.
U.S. and European technology companies that adapt to this reality will continue to dominate. Companies that do not will lose share to local competitors that understand their home markets better. The strategic implications are real for every major consumer internet company.
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
