The speed at which social media, as an industry, changes only brings to mind one term for me: break neck pace.
I live and breathe this industry and even I have trouble keeping up. We all see it every day as new platforms and tools and best practices are constantly evolving.
Luckily, there is also quite a bit of data and research available to help us get a grip on these changes.
Esteban Contreras (@socialnerdia) has done us all a huge favor as he continues to pull together some of the most relevant data and research out there. Esteban is the Social Media Marketing Manager at Samsung Electronics America, and runs the industry blog SocialNerdia.com.
Esteban has updated an earlier 2012 slideshare.net document with stats and analysis that has changed over the last two quarters. Of course the biggest change in that time was the Facebook IPO. But Esteban captures the full range of the social media marketing industry in this must read review.
The State of Social Media Marketing 2012
Esteban adds in the summary that “as the social media landscape expands and evolves, Facebook maintains its leadership despite IPO pains and mobile weakness. Twitter at #2 is becoming a curator and potential media company while Google+ is becoming Google’s SoLoMo layer. Newer players differentiate and create niches of their own, or seek exits.”
“Mobile is becoming the “first screen,” SoLoMo is growing in adoption, influence and importance and the SMMS industry is consolidating.”